Legendary One Shots
by tvfan69
Summary: This is a series of unconnected (unless specified otherwise) one shots concerning our Legends team. Most will probably be Captain Canary but there will be others. Will take requests but can't promise how quickly they'll get up.
1. Nosebleeds

At first Len thought nothing of it.

Really, it could've come from any of them and for any number of different reasons.

He was walking down the hall that contained the barracks when he noticed a drop of blood on the floor. As previously stated he didn't bother giving it a second thought and just kept on walking. Even when he found a second blood drop he continued on his way because very rarely is there only one drop of blood. But at the third drop he actually began growing curious. As far as he knew no one had been training intensely today and even if they had the med bay was much closer to the armory/gym than the barracks, not to mention it was obviously better equipped with medical supplies. Not to mention that he didn't even have to bend down to tell that the blood was fresh, it's bright red color shining even in the poorly lit hallway. Just then he heard a gasping sound coming from the bathroom up ahead and raised an eyebrow, what the heck was going on?

Curiosity peaked he walked right past his bedroom and over to the open door of the one bathroom that the team shared, and upon looking through the doorway he didn't know whether to laugh, sigh in relief, or ask Sara if she was ok. The blonde was at the far end of the room, kneeling with her face in the toilet and a piece of toilet paper held firmly to her nose as blood soaked through it. One thing that he did find concerning was the sight of her hands, they were red. Not just stained with a little blood here and there but full on red from her fingertips to her wrists, with only a few cracks of her skin showing through. He watched silently, she knew very well that he was there but said nothing, as she used her forearm to unroll some more toilet paper before snatching it with one blood coated hand and swapping it out with the piece under her nose.

"Don't worry, I'm not getting blood on the roll," she assured him in a voice muffled by toilet paper, not daring to look up and make things worse for herself.

Sara knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before one of her teammates found her considering she hadn't bothered to shut the door. She had been too focused on getting to toilet before she made too much of a mess. She'd dealt with nosebleeds for most of her life. She got them as part of her pollen allergies but as she got older they became more and more rare to the point where she only really got them when her allergies became very bad, and considering they had just landed in 1966 Kentucky in the middle of allergy season on a bright sunny day she should've seen this coming. So she had hoped that if any of her teammates found her, it wouldn't be Len. Any of the others she could convince to leave her alone, but Len was one of those people who did what he wanted no matter what you told him. After she spoke to him she was hoping maybe he would just make his snide comment and leave, but instead he came walking in and began looking around the sink for something.

When he entered the room he began scanning the countertop of the sink for something that he knew just had to be there, and if it weren't certainly it would have to be nearby. It was there, a hair tie, and Len grabbed it before settling himself down on the floor behind Sara. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the toilet bowl; the water was redder than Sara's hands and had about five or six clumps of blood soaked toilet paper in it.

"Jesus Lance, how long have you been in here?" He questioned as he gently pulled her hair away from her face and began pulling it back. While he worked Sara replaced her tissue again before reaching up and flushing the toilet, Len noticed that the lever already had blood on it meaning this was not the first time she had flushed.

"Ten minutes?" It sounded more like a guess than an actual answer, "The longest I've ever had one is forty." She told him as he finished with her hair.

Just as he secured the pony-tail she leaned a little more forward and spit, and Len noticed that what came out of her mouth was more blood than salvia.

"You should go to the med bay," he muttered as she once again replaced her tissue.

"I only get like this once in a while, it's not worth it." She protested and Len rolled his eyes.

"Gideon," he called, looking up to the ceiling as if he could actually see the AI.

"Yes Mr. Snart?" Gideon's voice rang.

"Is there anything Sara can take to stop this from happening again?" He inquired and although he couldn't see her face he could swear on his life that Sara was scowling at him.

"I can prescribe Miss Lance a nasal spray that will decrease the likely hood of a future nosebleed by 88%." The AI chimed and Sara rolled her eyes, she had taken a spray before and although she didn't necessarily mind it, it really isn't worth it.

"Thanks Gideon, but I'll be fine." She said to the AI in her tissue muffled voice before spitting again, groaning in frustration when her spit got caught on the toilet paper this time.

She reached out to grab another piece but found the Len had beaten her to it and held out a small clump of toilet paper to her.

"Thanks," she said, being careful not to get blood on his hands as she accepted the tissue and discarded her old one.

They sat there in silence after that, the only sounds being those of Len ripping toilet paper and Sara flushing the toilet every now and again. Finally Sara broke the silence, albeit unintentionally, when she let out a slightly panicked squeak. Len peered over her shoulder in concern, but he almost wished he hadn't. She had gone to replace her tissue again but when she removed the old one a rather large clot of blood came with it and all but burst all over her hand.

"Calm down, that means it's stopping." Snart whispered as he reached over and pressed a clean tissue to her face before the blood still leaking out her nose could cause even more of a mess.

"I know," she replied as she reached up to hold the tissue herself but hesitated, not wanting to get her blood on his hands.

He sensed her trepidation and reached over with his free hand to rip off another piece of toilet paper, and then he balled it up before handing it to her.

"When I pull away you replace it," he instructed,

"Ok," she agreed, she did as he said and in the end he only got a little of her blood on him.

After that the amount of blood coming from her nose diminished greatly and in less than five minutes Sara was flushing the toilet for the final time.

"Ok, I think it's done." She announced as Len stood up and turned on the sink, Sara not far behind him.

"Well, twenty minutes." He announced as he checked his phone for the time while she began scrubbing the dried blood off her hands. "You seriously spent forty like that once?" He asked, he had only been in here for ten minutes with her and even that seemed like a concerning amount for time, he couldn't imagine going through that for the better portion of an hour.

"That was all the way back in high school, the nurse had to call my parents cause she didn't think it would stop." She told him before she smiled with a laugh, "It stopped before my mom got there but she still sent me home," she reminisced as she looked up into the mirror and grimaced at the sight of her appearance.

Dried blood stained the skin around her mouth and looking back down she noticed that the sink looked liked a war zone with the clear water quickly changing to a coppery color. She probably should've been a lot more disturbed by this sight than she was, if Snart's pale face was any indication, but somehow the knowledge that it was her own blood she was washing off was ridiculously comforting.

"Never pegged you to faint at the sight of blood," she laughed, really taking a good look at Snart and his nervous expression.

"I'm not," he insisted, "But I am a little worried about how much you must have lost just now." He explained and Sara smiled but shook her head as she continued scrubbing her hands.

"I promise it's not as bad as it seems," she said but that didn't make Len feel any better.

* * *

"Again?" Len drawled from the bathroom doorway, it was now the middle of the night. He had been in his room, not doing much of anything except tinkering with his gun, when he heard running out in the hall.

It had sounded urgent and clumsy, and he was fairly certain whoever it was had smacked into a wall before they rounded into the third door of the hall. Curious as to what was so important he got up and went to investigate, not all that surprised to find Sara once again with her bloody face in the toilet.

"Not my fault I have allergies," she defended, her voice once again muffled through the toilet paper.

With a sigh Len went and sat down behind her, his legs falling on either side of her as he began grabbing another tissue for her.

"Thanks," she said as she swapped out the tissues.

Len looked over his shoulder and took note that the mess wasn't anywhere near as bad this time; then again it had only just started. He took note that her hair was still tied back from earlier, so he couldn't busy himself with that. She leaned forward and spit into the toilet, then sighed in relief upon not seeing a trace of blood. She changed the tissue again and it still didn't look to be as bad as earlier, and they both doubted it would get to be. As Len sat there he, at some point, wrapped an arm around her waist. She didn't tense when he did so, no more so than she already was at least. With his hand resting gently on her hip he could feel how tense her muscles were, tense not with fear of him but of what was happening to her. It was then that realized today was probably the first time this had happened in years, but it still confused him because she should know how to handle it.

"Relax," he found himself whispering in her ear as he handed her another tissue, "Like you said, it's not your fault you have allergies." He said to her and she gulped before letting out the breath she had been holding in a gasp.

"I know," she assured him,

"Then calm down," he whispered soothingly because he could still feel her trembling, in fact she seemed to be shaking even more than before he told her to relax.

She took a deep breath, and for a moment her body actually seemed to calm. But he could still see the corners of her eyes from this position, and in them he could still see the fear.

She took the tissue away from her nose and glanced at it, taking note that there was almost no blood on it. Smiling slightly she dropped it into the toilet and ran her hand under her nose, her skin came back just like the tissue. She flushed the toilet and moved to stand up, prompting Len to reclaim his arm and stand up himself.

"Thanks," she said to him as he followed her out of the bathroom, though when she turned to head towards her room he simply grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"What?" She asked as he started leading her in the opposite direction.

"We still don't know how long we're going to be here but according to the weather all this week is supposed to be just like today," He said as they left the hall of the barracks and Sara finally understood where he was taking her when they turned for the two steps that lead down to the lower level of the ship where supplies were kept; supplies and the med bay.

"Snart that spray stuff barely helps," she tried to tell him.

"Barely is still something," He replied and she rolled her eyes, put still bit her lip as the anxiety she could feel inside of her practically doubled.

She knew her fears were unjustified; after all she hadn't been afraid this afternoon when her allergies were far worse than they were right now. She knew it was only the late hour eliciting this fear in her, that it was only the dark of the night. But it was still there, and despite the irrationality of it she didn't want to face any possible scans by Gideon to confirm it. She tried to reason with herself that Gideon probably wasn't even going to give her any sort of scan at all, that Snart was just going to dig through the cabinet for a nasal spray and not let her leave until she took it, but right now she was just too afraid of it not working to take it. As her completely ridiculous thoughts consumed her mind they arrived in the med bay and Snart let go off her arm. For a moment she considered running, but where would she go? The only place she realistically could go and hide would be either her room or the bathroom, and both places Snart would grab his gun and freeze the locks until they opened. She could leave the ship but they're in the middle of freaking nowhere, not to mention that Rip sets an alarm on all the entrances and exits of the ship at night.

"Here," Snart said when he finally found what he was looking for, pulling her out of her thoughts as he held a small bottle with a spray tip out to her.

"I'll take it in the morning," she promised, making no move to grab the bottle.

"Sara," he drawled

"You can only take that every twenty-four hours, and I don't want to come down here at 12:30 in the morning every night until we leave 1966." She excused and Len rolled his eyes but did indeed put down the bottle.

"Fine," he agreed, "But tell me why you really won't take it," he bargained,

"What are you-?"

"Sara you look like you've seen a ghost," He deadpanned, and she really did. Her body was tense like she was holding her breath and her eyes were just a little wider than usual.

"It's-"

"Sara," he interrupted, not wanting to hear her lie and say that it's nothing because obviously it isn't.

She took a breath and nodded, trying to calm herself.

"It's crazy," she finally said but the uncertainty of her face showed that despite this fact she was still afraid. "I've never gotten a nosebleed at night before," she admitted,

"There's a first time for everything," Len said with a shrug and Sara nodded.

"I know, but…" she trailed off, knowing that her thoughts were nonsense.

As Len watched her body language, watched her silent mouth argue with a nagging voice in her head, he figured out what it was that was bringing on whatever fears she was having.

The great White Canary was afraid of the dark.

The silence of the ship, the darkness of the night, it was fueling her greatest anxieties like coal in a furnace.

"Sara," he said sternly, stepping closer so that there was only an inch or so between them.

"I, I'm the first person the Lazarus Pit ever brought back from complete death." She whispered and he could see the tears forming in her eyes. "What if this isn't allergies?" She asked and Len looked at her sympathetically. "I don't want to die tonight Len," she practically cried but she had barely gotten his name out before his arms were around her and he was holding her firmly against his chest, letting her tears soak his shirt.

"Shh," He whispered into her ear as he held her there.

"I know it's crazy," she said, lying her cheek against his chest, "I know it's my allergies and I know that even if the effects of the pit-" she cut herself off with a sob, finding that she couldn't even say the terrible thing she was thinking. "I know it wouldn't happen in just one night but-" again it was her own sob that interrupted her.

"Shh," Len said again, rubbing one hand in a soothing motion up and down her back. "You're right," he whispered to her, "It's just your allergies, Sara the effects of that pit aren't going to be what claims you." He said, trying his best to be reassuring. He felt her nod against him as she sniffled and stopped crying, but made no move to pull away from him. They stayed there like that for who know long before Sara finally pulled back and looked up at him with a small smile of embarrassment on her lips.

"Now," Len drawled out as he grabbed the bottle again. "Please take the medicine, if it doesn't work I promise it's not because you're dying." He insisted and this time she took the bottle. Once that was done Len smiled with satisfaction and the two exited the med bay.

"Goodnight Crook," Sara said as they reached Len's door back in the barracks.

"Sweet dreams Assassin," he said back, just the slightest hint of teasing in his voice, but Sara smiled when she heard it because turns out tonight would be the first time in awhile that she in fact did have sweet dreams.


	2. Braces

Just when he thought he'd seen it all.

Granted he had said that back in the 50's when confronted by Savage's experiments but this time he knew that there was no possible way anything would ever be more bizarre than the sight in front of him, or behind him in this case.

The year is 1999 and after some semi-successful recon work in Star City Leonard Snart is heading back to the Waverider with the information, or at least he was until a child's voice caused him to stop in his tracks.

"Aw c'mon Lance, we were just teasing." The voice taunted and the name it spoke was more than enough to grab Len's attention.

He turned around, eyebrow arched as his curiosity was peaked, and he didn't know whether to feel pity or laugh at what he saw. Coming down the city street were two boys roughly the age of twelve and walking between them, but looking like she was trying awfully hard to get away from them, was Sara Lance.

She wasn't the Sara Lance he knew, obviously, otherwise those kids would be running home to their mommies already. It was clear she hadn't hit her growth spurt yet; she didn't even look like she had reached five feet. She was wearing long baggy jeans with the images of butterflies stitched into the fabric and little plastic rhinestones all up the stitches, a neon pink tank top, and a denim jacket that matched the designs on her pants. In her arms she clutched a notebook that was obnoxiously bright and designed with the cartoonish images of rainbow colored dolphins and her hair, interestingly enough, was cut short and hung freely above her shoulders. As she and the two boys drew closer, but not close enough to realize that they were being watched, Len noticed the sparkly purple nail polish chipping off of Sara's fingers and the oversized plastic locket hanging around her neck. He couldn't help but snicker at the sight, knowing full well that the woman this little girl grows up to be would skin him alive if she ever found out he had seen her like this.

"No, you guys made me look like an idiot!" She said angrily, now that they were closer Len could see that Sara was far from five feet tall, at least half a foot shorter. At this pint he had stopped and sat down on a nearby bench and pulled out the paper he pretended to read during his recon mission, he was far too intrigued by the approaching children to leave.

"No we didn't," One of the boys said, his tone implying that Sara was over-exaggerating.

"Yes you did! You two are exactly the reason I said I was never opening my mouth again!" She exclaimed in an angry and slightly tear laced voice before she abruptly clamped her mouth shut.

Behind his paper Len raised an eyebrow, now he really wanted to know what these boys had done to her. But he suspected that unless he went back to the Waverider and asked the much older Sara if she remembers, which she probably doesn't, he'd never find out. The kids were just about in front of him and would soon have passed by, or so he thought.

"Yeah right, you couldn't keep quiet for a day if you tried!" One of the boys taunted,

"A day?" The other boy asked incredulously, "She couldn't keep quiet for an hour!" He teased and that is when young Sara did the last thing Leonard was expecting, she climbed onto the bench and sat next to him.

"Sara…" The first boy, the one with dark hair who had claimed she couldn't keep quiet for a day, whined at her.

"I'll take the bus the rest of the way home," she told him, very matter-of-factly.

"Aw come on," the other boy whined, it was beyond obvious now that Sara was not only shorter than the two boys but she was also younger. Thinking it over Len figured that one of them had to be that Queen guy she knew, he got the feel from her stories about him that they go back a long way. The other he had no idea, but probably a friend of Queen's. Len had to fight a smirk as he looked at the situation, a two-year age gap isn't much in adulthood but as children it was apparently enough for Queen to be in charge of Sara.

"Sara we were just joking, your mom's gonna kill us if we let you ride the bus alone." The dark haired boy tried to reason with her.

"Too bad," she snapped back at him and with a roll of his eyes Queen started walking off.

"Oliver?" The other boy asked,

"Just forget about her Tommy," he called back, a devilish smirk on his face.

After a moment's hesitation the other boy, Tommy apparently, began walking after his friend and they disappeared around the corner. Once they left Len could practically feel the nervousness radiating off of the little girl next to him until it spiked when he finally decided to fold his paper up and say something, after all it's not like this is the Sara who would take his head off for poking his nose into her business.

"Alright, I'll bite, what did those boys do to you?" He asked and she just gave him a look of complete panic, so he unfolded his paper again. "Don't talk to strangers, got it. You're a smart kid." He commented and for another few seconds it was silent.

"They told everyone about my braces," she muttered quietly, Len looked down at her to see her staring at her feet, her mouth still clamped shut.

"Aren't you a little young for braces?" He asked her, she really only appeared to be about nine, maybe ten, years old.

She nodded at his question "I just got them yesterday. I'm the only kid in fourth grade who has them, and Tommy and Oliver know how much I don't like them." She explained and Len couldn't help but sigh, who knew there was a time in her life where Sara's problems were so ordinary?

"So what?" He finally asked, again putting away his paper, and she looked at him with confusion. "You have to keep those things on for what? Two years? Did you plan to never open your mouth at all during that time?" He questioned and in response she returned to staring at her feet, which she was swinging distractedly over the sidewalk. "I've got to get going kid, but let me tell you this. I have a friend, most amazing woman I've ever met, and when she was a kid she was just as upset over her braces as you are." He looked down to be sure Sara was listening, if her big attentive eyes were any indication, she was. "She's been through… a lot, in her life and every time she smiles…" Len trailed off, trying to think of the words to describe the way it makes him feel when Sara's bright smile lights up her face. "Well, our friends call me Cold but when she smiles… my heart feels warm." He finally decided on and the younger version of the very woman he's currently talking about smiled up at him, neon orange brackets revealing themselves for the first time. Despite that and despite her young age he still saw the same smile that melts a little more ice off his heart every time he looks at the White Canary. It lit up her face in the exact same way, and he found himself grinning. "See ya later kid," he said as he got up, knowing that if he stayed much longer he'd have Rip coming through his earpiece and demanding to know what was taking him so long.

* * *

In the morning it's always either him or Sara whose up first, and whoever it is the other usually isn't far behind. This morning it's him and as usual he's sitting on one of the barstools at the counter of the Waverider's kitchen when she walks in. At first she just lingers in the doorway, a smile on her face and he can feel her eyes on him.

"What?" He finally asked and when he heard her giggle he started to think that maybe something was wrong with her and she was trying to keep from crying, because Sara Lance does not giggle.

But her smile only spread as she came and took a seat next to him, and he could tell that whatever she had to say it was something that made her happy.

"When I was a kid, I lost my baby teeth fast and so I was able to get my braces a little early." She began and he knew where she was going with this, his only question was how could she possibly remember that day? "I was the first kid in my class to get them and I was so embarrassed that I cried for a week and I even tried to rip them off, which ended in me giving myself my very first scar; inside of my mouth." She explained and Len just raised an eyebrow at her.

"So?" He asked, now he was slightly curious as to where this was going exactly.

"So yesterday afternoon, all of a sudden, I got this really bad headache then when I went to bed I had a dream." She told him, he didn't show it but he knew without a doubt that he was caught. "It felt like a memory, of the day after I first got my braces. Tommy and Oliver were teasing me and so I sat down on a bench to wait for the city bus and they left me there, they waited just around the corner because they knew I wouldn't get on that bus, but the funny thing is instead of sitting there alone and crying like I've sworn for all these years to be what happened, there was a man there. A very nice man who told me an extremely sappy story about a friend of his, he called her one of the most amazing women he'd ever met." She couldn't contain her laughter at that and honestly neither could Leonard, especially since they both knew he hadn't said _one of_.

"Must have been some dream," he said, still trying to pretend he hadn't interfered with her childhood, though mostly just for fun at this point since it was useless.

"I thought so too, until I ran my tongue over my scar only to find that it was gone." She said and Len knew that was it, he couldn't pretend anymore.

"You were ten, sappy was the only thing you'd listen too." He defended and she chuckled,

"Nine actually, my birthday was still about a month away." She corrected and he smirked but said nothing. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"For what?" He asked, honestly he was still waiting for her to yell at him. "You were upset over braces, you would've gotten over it in less than a month." He said and she smirked.

"True," she agreed, "I was nine years old and it was one of the most pointless things to be upset about, which should've made it easy for you to just leave me be. But you didn't, thank you." She said with a sincere smile and Len tried to hide his.

"Don't get used to it assassin, I'm no softie. I just thought it looked out of place to see such a big frown on the face of a kid wearing so much rainbow." He assured her and at that she had to laugh.

"Yeah that must have been quite a sight," she agreed but before he could reply Ray came walking into the kitchen.

"Morning guys," he greeted in his usual cheery mood as he set to work on his coffee.

"Morning," Sara and Len chorused, Len's voice having more venom to it as usual.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ray asked and the two friends exchanged looks before Len decided to be the one to answer.

"Some girl I met on my way back from my mission yesterday," he said,

"Really, was she cute?" Ray asked,

"Adorable," Len replied, not once during this conversation did he take his eyes off of Sara, who was now laughing.

"Snart stopped a little girl from crying," she explained, looking over her shoulder at Ray who all but choked.

"You're choking on air Raymond," Len drawled,

"I know," he coughed as the air finally found it's way back to his lungs. "Sorry but, seriously you _stopped_ a little girl from crying?" He asked in astonishment

"Don't sound so surprised Raymond, even I wouldn't kick a little girl when she's down." Len said and Ray nodded.

"I know, I didn't mean to, I mean I never thought…" Ray was sounding an awful lot like Felicity Smoak right now, "Never mind," he finally decided on before taking his coffee and leaving the room.

"You couldn't have lied to him?" Len asked Sara in amusement and she chuckled.

"Nope," she replied before she too walked out of the room, every intention on beating Ray to the bathroom.

Len watched her go and took another sip of his coffee with a smirk; despite the passing of twenty years, give or take considering their job, that angelic smile has never changed.


	3. The Girl in the Mask

**So this one was requested by TinkStar87, who asked me to do a one shot about meeting Captain Canary's kid somewhere in the future, enjoy!**

* * *

Rip hates traveling beyond the year 2016.

As he's stated many, many, many times before it is very dangerous for any member of his team to know too much about their own futures. But sometimes trips to their future are just plain inevitable and when that's the case he has ground rules:

1\. No leaving the ship for purposes unrelated to the mission.

2\. When rule number one is inevitably broken, no going anywhere your future self might go for any reason.

3\. If for whatever reason you do see your future self or the future self of anyone you know, do not attract attention to yourself.

He knows that he's probably going to have to enact some more rules eventually but for now they haven't completely destroyed the timeline with the three they have and considering some of the members of this team that's really all that he can ask for. Anyway the reason they came here to the year 2033 hasn't been so much to hunt for Savage as it is Chronos was relentlessly on their tale in the temporal zone so he exited at the nearest portal out without caring where it landed them.

"Shore leave Captain, c'mon." Mr. Snart drawled as he and many of the others, all except Professor Stein, headed out of the ship.

"No, not here." Rip tried to be stern but just as always his team ignored it.

"Rip, you're the one who always tells us that the future isn't set in stone, what are we going to break?" Dr. Palmer questioned and Rip sighed, knowing that if Leonard Snart and Raymond Palmer are on the same side of an argument then there's really no point in trying to convince them otherwise.

"Be careful," the captain stressed and Ray nodded.

"Will do," he said, an eager smile lighting up his face as if he were a child whose father had decided against grounding him when he deserved it.

"No promises," Ms. Lance said with an evil smile, before Rip could rebuttal the team was gone.

* * *

They hadn't landed in anybody's hometown, which is probably why Rip didn't put up more of a fight when the group left the ship. The future so far was an interesting place. So far Sara had noticed that flip phones and VHS tapes looked to have made a comeback, but there was also a giant monorail suspended above the city of Keystone and the boats on the river looked more like cars with a water capability.

"There's an accident waiting to happen," Snart said, getting her attention as he looked up at the monorail.

"Probably," Sara agreed before whirling her head all around her only to see that Snart was the only other member of their team still here.

"What happened to Ray and Kendra?" She asked, remembering how they had lost Jax when they passed a hardware store and he decided to stop in and pick up some minor parts that the Waverider was going to need sooner or later.

"Raymond saw a restaurant while you were looking at the water, he decided that he better take Kendra out for a real date and they walked off." Len explained, "So I guess you're stuck with me now." He drawled and Sara smirked.

"See anywhere you want to go?" She asked him as they continued walking down the sidewalk, she hadn't seen anything that sparked her interest but she really wasn't in any rush to get back to the time ship.

"I'm hoping that a bar is still a bar in 2033," he answered.

They found a bar not too far away from the city's center. It was a little hole in the wall place, which was nice, as that made it easy to ignore the crowded streets of the city outside. They sat on two stools in the corner and ordered two drinks, and as they sat there Len glanced out the window.

"How long do you think it'll take the others to find us?" He asked,

"Not long," Sara replied as she took a sip of her drink, they both knew that it wouldn't be long before Rip became paranoid that one of them had done something stupid while out and called them all back. "You know we're not far from Central City," she suggested as her friend took a swig of his own drink.

"Interesting as that would be, I'd rather stay here." He told her,

"Why?" She asked,

"Why not?" He countered, "If there was nothing for me in Central City when I left there certainly isn't going to be anything there now."

"You don't know that," she said with a playful smile, "Assuming we survive this mission and all go back to 2016, and face it we're not going back the same people we were when we left, you could've made something of yourself." She said but Snart just shook his head.

"Like what?" He asked and his companion only shrugged.

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

Snart had absolutely no idea why he let Sara talk him into this, although really she hadn't so much talked him into it as she had tipped his curiosity enough for him to talk himself in. He'd never say so out loud but that is one quality that he admires about her. Her ability to get inside of a person's head really is something else. He's seen people do it before; hell he's done it once or twice. But there's something about Sara's style that intrigues him. She doesn't make it seem like there's no other choice, there's always a choice with her. He could've just as easily chosen to stay in Keystone and he's confident that she wouldn't have pushed the issue. With anybody else he would say leaving the other option open is a rookie mistake, but for her it works.

They walked to Central City. They could've taken that monorail but the two cities are neighbors and they were close to the border anyway. Besides, the walk allowed for the two of them to check out what had changed in each city and what hadn't over the years. Sara had only been to Central City once, after she came back from the dead the first time (the time she wasn't actually dead) and went to visit her mom. She remembered a fair amount of details but as she walked through the future city she found that she couldn't completely distinguish the old from the new. On the contrary Len knew this city like the back of his hand and knew exactly what had and hadn't been here the last time he was. The city hadn't changed all that much in the past seventeen years, sure there was a new building here and there and one missing somewhere but for the most pat it seemed to have just been upgraded with the times. The fact that the city had mostly stayed the same didn't really surprise him, so he was half expecting it when a streak of yellow lightning zoomed by him and Sara.

"What was that?" Sara asked and Len frowned, the last thing he needed was to be seen by the future version of Barry Allen. More specifically the last things he needed was the future version of Barry Allen getting all smug and assuming he had gone good thanks to Rip's mission, which he hasn't.

"Not something we need to get involved with," he drawled but just then a second streak flew past them, something Len did not expect.

She couldn't be sure if Len heard it but when the second streak passed by Sara was sure she heard something akin to a scream.

"Come on," she said before heading quickly in the direction the two flashes had gone, Len rolled his eyes before following her, he was SO going to regret this.

* * *

They didn't have to go far, in fact they only had to go as far as Central City Park where there was a giant and obviously unnatural rainbow stemming from the ground with a man in a black suit standing atop it. The people in the park were running around like crazy, some shouting that they had gone blind. This made it hard for the two speedsters to evacuate the pedestrians, as they were panicked enough already and suddenly being zoomed off at super speed didn't help anything. As he and Sara drew closer Len noticed that neither of these speedsters was the Flash he knew back in 2016. They never stopped long enough for him to pick up the details but they looked younger, not to mention that they're suits were purple. There was one way, however, to tell them apart even as they sped around the park. Only one of them had a mask that went over his head like Barry's and unlike the rest of his suit it was white. The other only wore a white eye-mask.

While Snart studied the two speedsters Sara focused more heavily on the man atop the rainbow, or more specifically the girl he was fighting. Her outfit, while it appeared to be made out of the same material as that of the two speedster's, was a lot more casual looking. She wore black leggings and an icy blue sweatshirt with the hood up and matching mask. Somehow her white utility belt stayed secured to the leggings as she fought against the man but that wasn't what had drawn Sara's attention to her, no what had drawn her attention was the fact that the girl fought with a very familiar Bo Staff.

"Should we help them?" Snart's question interrupted her thoughts, and only when he asked with total seriousness did she realize that the girl she had been watching for so long was losing her battle.

She nodded her reply and without another word the two headed into the heat of the battle. They had brought they're respective weapons with them, of course, they knew better by now than to leave the ship without them. They headed straight for the rainbow but it disappeared before they got there and the black suited man landed with a thud on the ground and the girl on top of him, pinning him down, so maybe she hadn't been losing.

"I could use a little help here!" She called over her shoulder as her captive struggled beneath her. Now that they were closer Sara could see that the girl was only about high school aged and although athletically built she was pretty small, so although she was pinning her much larger opponent expertly it would only be a matter of time before he was able to shake her off.

"Allow me," Snart replied just before he iced the man on the ground, not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out.

The girl looked up at him and blinked rapidly beneath her mask, her mouth hanging open ever so slightly.

"You got something to say kid?" He asked her in his usual icy tone, the girl had only just begun to stutter when her two speedster friends skidded to a stop next to her.

"Uncle Len?" The boy asked, Len could now see that the one with only an eye-mask was a girl but he hardly took notice, he was too focused on what the boy said.

"What?" He managed to say; next to him Sara's eyes were wide with a mix of shock and amusement.

The eyes of the three teenagers grew wide upon hearing the older man's reaction,

"Oh… uh… let me guess, you're with Rip Hunter aren't you?" The boy asked awkwardly, Len nodded.

"Oh uh… ok then we'll just be getting Rainbow Raider down to his usual cell and-" but the boy and the girl who Len could only assume was his sister were gone and so was the man in the black suit.

"They leave you behind like this a lot?" Sara asked the girl in the hood with a smirk,

"They'll be back," the girl replied surely

"You want to tell me what that was about?" Len demanded of the girl who looked slightly panicked by the question, but lucky for her the speeding boy returned just at that moment.

"Gotta go," she said quickly and almost nervously before climbing onto the boy's back and the two sped away, Sara heard a squeal just as they went and concluded that was the scream she had heard before.

For a minute Len just stood there, completely stunned. Sara made no move to snap him out of it either; she let him stand there as what that boy had said sank in.

"Come on," he finally said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her along.

"Where are we going?" She asked, normally if someone grabbed her wrist suddenly and started pulling her along she would've flipped them over her shoulder, but judging by Snart's very light grip he was well aware of this and so she let it slide and just followed.

"To find that kid."

* * *

"So I've been in charge of you three for two hours and you might have broken the timeline?!" Cisco exclaimed when the three teenagers returned to STAR labs and told him about their mission. Iris had left town for a business trip just two hours ago, and only a half hour later a certain blonde teenager showed up at the lab with a backpack saying that her parents had to leave for some emergency mission with Oliver, which he knew about since Wally and Caitlin were called too. He asked why she didn't go with them and she said that she tried but they insisted she crash Don and Dawn's weekend with Uncle Cisco, besides she knows that if she's needed they'll call.

"Technically you've only been in charge of me for an hour and half," The blonde pointed out and Cisco glared at her, which was about as intimidating as an angry puppy but she didn't keep taunting.

"Relax, I called him Uncle Len so he probably thinks I'm Aunt Lisa's son." Don said, his mask no longer on his face, revealing his dark brown hair and eyes that are so much like Barry's.

"How is that any better?" Cisco asked in exasperation, normally he isn't one to shout but every time they mess with time it's bad; so the idea of messing with time while he's the adult in charge is bad with more bad piled on top. It doesn't matter that he's now forty-two years old, that he's married, or even that he's a parent himself. That last thing being something he has no intentions of telling the past Leonard Snart if it can be avoided. Bottom line is that he's never really grown up and put three teenagers who can pretty much look after themselves in his care is one thing, drop in a time traveling former assassin and not yet ex-thief is a whole other thing.

"It's not," The blonde girl said again as she took off her hood and mask, intertwining her fingers with Don's. "But I kept my mouth shut, and I don't think they could make out my features through my mask and hood. It could've been worse," she said and Cisco let out a sigh, he opened his mouth to say something but he didn't get the chance before a voice down the hall interrupted.

"Allen?" It called and Cisco recognized it immediately, and he knew that it wasn't the present Leonard Snart.

Sure enough a past version of Len came marching into the room with Sara Lance behind him, also a past version. Upon hearing Len's voice the three teenagers rushed to replace their masks and just barely managed to do so as the two adults strode into the room.

"Oh… Hey Le-Snart." Cisco said, quickly remembering that when they were younger he called Len by his last name.

"Ramon," Snart replied dryly, barely acknowledging he and Cisco were now about the same age. "Anybody care to tell me what's going on here?" He asked,

"Well uh that depends as to what it is you're talking about," Cisco said awkwardly, stepping somewhat casually, or what he thought was casual, in front of the three kids as if that could somehow shield their identities.

"Ramon one of your little buddies back there seems to think I'm his Uncle, can you just tell me where he would get that idea?" He questioned, not really in the mood to deal with all the timeline crap.

"Well you're not really my Uncle," the boy in question said from behind Cisco, prompting the older man to sigh in defeat and step aside. "We call you our Uncle just like we call Cisco our Uncle, and Caitlin our Aunt." He continued, gesturing with his free hand between himself and the second speedster but conveniently skipping over the other girl whose hand he held.

Before Snart could say anything to this an alarm started blaring throughout the lab, and Cisco quickly thanked the lord above for the occurrence, until he got to the monitors and realized what the alarm was for.

"Guys, Grundy's downtown." He said in alarm,

"On it," came the rushed reply from the girl who neither Sara nor Len had yet figured out.

"Are you sure?" Cisco asked as the teen who had responded hopped onto her boyfriend's back, "Grundy can be kind of a handful,"

"We've got it." Don assured and with that the three of them sped off.

* * *

 _"We've got it."_ That kid had said but from what Len was seeing the answer is no, no they didn't.

While they were gone he had _persuaded_ Ramon to tell him exactly who these kids were and why they felt close enough to him to call him their Uncle. At first persuasion nearly failed but after all the time he's spent on a time ship from the next century he knows enough to look up files on a state of the art computer in 2033. He actually got to the files on Allen's kids, which prompted Cisco to start talking. Their names are Don and Dawn, and somehow the fact that Barry gave his twin children the same name surprised the man who had almost no faith in him to begin with. When he asked about Barry, Cisco grew solemn and admitted that he had disappeared nine years ago. He hadn't been trying to run through time but that's what they think happened and whenever he landed, he's stuck. He said that when Barry first disappeared his brother-in-law, Wally, took up the mantel of the Flash and today was off in Star City helping Oliver. Allen's kids call themselves The Tornado Twins, and their friend calls herself Blue Bird, though he wouldn't give up her real name.

Len was considering scaring it out of him, when Dawn raced in carrying her half dead looking brother. Don was beat up badly and his sister out of breathe.

"Grundy was going for…" She trailed off as she panted while Sara and Cisco took Don's limp form from her and half carried, half dragged him over to the cot in the back of the lab.

"Blue Bird, Blue Bird!" Cisco called over his shoulder, reminding the panicked girl to use her friend's code name.

"Blue Bird," she nodded, "Do-" she stopped herself, then mentally cursed that she and her brother were still yet to think of separate code names.

"Don," Len supplied and she looked at him in surprise, "While you were gone I motivated Ramon into telling us your names, all except for your friend's that is." He explained and she nodded.

"He pushed her out of the way, Grundy was a little angrier than usual today and beat him senseless." She finished explaining as she finally caught her breath, Cisco returning while Sara patched up Don.

"Did you leave her alone?" Cisco demanded, the kids are still fairly new at this but he hoped that Dawn would have the sense not to leave Blue Bird alone against Grundy for longer than a few seconds.

"No," the female speedster replied, "We took him out before I ran back here, she's on her way." She replied and Cisco nodded, mentally reminding himself that they need to find a way for Blue Bird to keep up with the twins without Don piggybacking her.

"I thought you were a speedster, why so out of breath?" Len asked the girl who looked back to him with a deadpan glare.

"Fast, not strong." She replied and that was when the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor could be heard and not a moment later Blue Bird ran through with speed arguably on par with her friends'.

She raced over to the back, not caring about the tears stinging her eyes or even noticing that her hood had fallen down and revealed her blonde ponytail. She didn't stop to take note of anything until Sara had grabbed her by her shoulders.

"He's fine, he's gonna be fine." She said gently to the girl before her who looked as if she could break down crying at any moment. "He just needs to rest," she said as the girl finally met her eyes.

Despite the eye-mask Sara could still see the girl's face now that her hood was down, and she felt her own breath hitch in her throat. The girl's blonde hair, it was tied back but Sara could still see the waves in it, the trace amounts of frizz the girl had clearly tried to brush away, not at all unlike her own hair. She could see her face, could see the light freckles that she herself had in childhood. This girl looked so much like her and yet something was different. The girl's jaw was slightly different, yet still familiar. With almost shaky hands Sara reached up and gently slid off the girl's eye-mask, not that she couldn't see her piercing blue eyes already.

Eyes that she knows don't belong to herself.

"You ok there Canary?" It was Len's voice that cut through the silence of the back room, but Sara didn't even hear him at first. "Sara," Len snapped this time and finally Sara looked up, with a look of something that if Len didn't know her better he would've considered fear. But when she put her hands back on the teenager's shoulders and turn her around Len found himself face to face with the spitting image of what he would've guessed a younger Sara Lance to look like.

* * *

"So have you time traveled before?" Len asked later, although Sara wasn't sure how much later. All she knew was that at this point Don was still unconscious, Blue Bird, who had finally admitted that her real name is Aurora, was sitting by his side, and Dawn and Cisco were down in the pipeline securing this Grundy fellow.

"And changed my name?" Sara asked rhetorically but Len merely shrugged.

"You never know," he said but Sara just shook her head, they both knew exactly who Aurora really is. "So whose the lucky guy?" He asked,

"Like I-" Sara began but she stopped when she looked Len in the eyes, finally placing where it was that she had seen Aurora's eyes before. "Like I know?" She finished, much less annoyed than she had originally intended.

Len didn't comment on the fact that her fiery voice suddenly sounded as though each word was caught in her throat. He kept one eye on the teenage girl sitting at the bedside of who was obviously her boyfriend, her hand running through his dark brown hair. With a sigh he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and headed for the back of the lab, hesitant as he is to admit it he saw Aurora's eyes as well, and he's seen his own reflection enough times to know where she got them.

When he reached her she looked up, a look of fear on her face, and that made his gut twist. She was the spitting image of Sara for sure, but he could still see subtle differences. Her eyes, the shape of her face, and few other things that he couldn't quite place but he knew were from him. Without saying a word he pulled a chair up along side her, and damn he could practically hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of me?" He asked, terrified as she looked it wasn't the same look Lisa used to give their father and that was the only thing keeping him from running back to the time ship.

"What?" She asked, seeming genuinely confused, he took that as a good sign.

"You clearly didn't want us knowing who you are, and now you're looking at me like I'm going to punish you" he hated that he said it, but her eyes widened as she got what he meant, and that made him feel a little better.

"No!" She all but shouted, waving her hands frantically in front of her. "No you would never, have never, even when I give you reason to." She assured him and he couldn't help the small sigh of relief that escaped his mouth.

"No it's just… I wasn't… well you know you never planned on having kids." She admitted and Len felt his eyes widen just a little as the realization struck him. Not only was he now sure that this girl was his future daughter, but she was actually afraid that now that he knew, he'd stop her from ever existing.

"I don't hurt you?" He asked again and she frantically shook her head,

"No," she replied hastily and he gave her a satisfied grin.

"I never thought I would've named my daughter after a Disney Princess," he mused and she exhaled a sigh of relief as she laughed.

"That's just a coincidence," she assured him, "No one ever calls me by my full name." she said,

"What do we call you?" He asked, surprising himself a little when he said "we" as opposed to "they".

"What's short for Aurora?" She asked knowingly and Len said nothing, he knew the answer.

Rory.

He and Sara named their daughter after Mick.

Briefly he wondered who convinced who that was a good idea, or whose idea it was in the first place. But his thoughts were interrupted when the unconscious speedster finally started to stir.

"Hey Babe," he said groggily with that dorky smile of Barry's plastered along his face.

"Careful Allen," Len found himself saying in warning tone, hand going to his cold gun as he stood up and watched the caramel skinned boy go almost white as a sheet.

Len smirked, satisfied by this reaction, and headed away to leave the two alone.

* * *

"Hey," Sara said later, well technically the next day since it was two a.m., when she found Len sitting by himself in the bridge. He looked over his shoulder at the sound of her voice.

"Hey," he said and considering his voice wasn't hostile she made her way over and took not the seat next to him but the one next to that. They had hardly said two words to each other since leaving STAR labs, and they definitely didn't say anything about it to Rip or the team. Once she sat down she didn't say anything, not at first anyway. She just took a long moment to study him, his face was an emotionless mask like always but it was clear that he was lost deep in thought.

"You doing ok?" She finally asked and he sighed,

"My daughter is dating the son of Barry Allen, how do you think I'm doing?" He asked and Sara chuckled.

"So what?" She asked, "We know she belongs to both of us, she told you that she wasn't planned, and we know that she's fourteen or fifteen years old in 2033."

"Meaning that if we assume Rip brings us back to 2016, it'll only be a year or two before I knock you up." He finished and upon hearing it put so bluntly they both quickly grew very uncomfortable with the idea. Sure they'd flirted back and forth, but neither of them had ever really considered the other could become more than a close friend, maybe a crush.

"Maybe not," She said and Len just raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean saying knocked up makes it sound like we got drunk or bored one night and just hooked up for the fun of it. But maybe by the time this is over you and me…" she trailed off, half because the ending of her sentence scared her and half because she could tell it scared him.

"Rip may have a habit of lying, but one thing out of his mouth that I believe is that time wants some things to happen." Len began, "So why don't we say this, let's just put it out of our minds for awhile and if three years after this mission ends rolls around and we haven't been forced to already we'll pick up this conversation." He suggested and Sara could help but smile slightly at his plan, something that surprised her.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed as she got up, "You coming to bed?" She asked and again he raised a questioning eyebrow at her, she rolled her eyes in response. "Not with me," she clarified and he smirked, pleased to have gotten a rise out of her.

"In a little bit," he promised and satisfied with that answer she walked off, leaving Len to do some quick mental math.

"Gideon," he finally called out,

"Yes Mr. Snart?" The electronic voice rang in response.

"Can you keep an active watch out for any signs of Barry Allen from now on?" He questioned, much as he hates the kid he can see that he would make a great father someday, and he no doubt had for the time he spent with his children before disappearing into the time stream.

"Of course Mr. Snart," Gideon replied and Len sighed a sigh of relief. He got up to go but quickly stopped.

"And Gideon?" He added

"Yes Mr. Snart?"

"Can we just keep this between us?" He asked; he couldn't let anyone know that he was searching for the future and missing version of his worst enemy.

"So long as it does not conflict with missions to hunt Vandal Savage or place any member of the team in harms way." The computer replied,

"Fair enough," Len agreed and with that done he headed off to his room.


	4. Welcome Back

**So this chapter takes place after tomorrow's episode, it's based on the trailer.**

* * *

He had been sitting here for almost an hour now, his gut twisted in a seemingly permanent and rather painful knot. For him Kronos attacked the Waverider a mere few hours ago, but for her it's been two long years. She's in the med bay, and so is he. She's asleep on one of the beds that resembles more of an upright chair, he's sitting next to her in a rather normal chair. Why is she asleep? Because there was no way in hell he was leaving her behind again. Kendra and Ray, he'd kill them both if Hunter would let him, they said that they looked for her after she left six months ago but they didn't even know where to start. As far as Len is concerned they just didn't look hard enough to figure it out. They knew she had gone to Nanda Parbat, but they didn't know how to find such a place. Sure Kendra had told him about Ray's desk and how it was over cluttered with maps and cryptic messages that he thought could be clues but more often than not meant absolutely nothing. Sure Raymond told him about how Kendra would spend hours at a time meditating, hoping that maybe over the course of her 206 lifetimes she might have once visited the mysterious location and was wracking her memory for it. Maybe if he weren't so pissed off at them for letting her go in the first place he'd give them more credit for their efforts in trying to find her. But no, those two decided they were going to fall for each other and Len could put the pieces together from there; Sara felt like a third wheel and so she decided to go to the only place in the world where she would feel like she belonged.

So that's why she's asleep, because she'd fallen back into her old ways and didn't believe she could be a hero anymore. It took the combined efforts of Kendra, Raymond, Jax, and Stein, (those last two literally combined) to take her down and knock her unconscious. Then Len scooped her up and brought her here. After what happened with Mick he'd swore he'd never do that again, drag someone here who didn't want to be. But Sara does want to be here. She just doesn't think she can, and he needs her to see that she's wrong.

Just then her eyes fluttered open and he held his breath. She didn't turn her head; she just stared vacantly up at the ceiling. After a long moment she began to sit up and stepped off of the bed, not once meeting his eyes.

"Sara," he started but she walked right past him, like she didn't even hear him.

* * *

The next few hours were silent, and not the kind of silent that Leonard usually likes. It was the heavy kind, the kind that you have to wait out and pray to god you won't be waiting long. Rip was holed up in his study, working to find another lead on Savage. Ordinarily Len would've rolled his eyes at the Captain's incessant need to find another lead on their enemy no matter what was going on around him, but honestly they all needed the distraction this time. Raymond was off somewhere pouting, as much as he wanted to become a legend it's no secret that he had actually enjoyed his life back in 1958 and would've happily gone on living there. Kendra seemed happy to be back, though she didn't quite seem to know what to do with herself. For the time being she had busied herself by talking with Jax and the Professor, telling them about what had gone on in her last two years.

Their last six hours.

Sara hadn't been seen since she walked out of the med bay, but everyone knew exactly where she was. Finally deciding that he'd left her to herself long enough Len pushed himself out of his seat and headed off towards the barracks, he stopped at her door. For a moment he just stood there, debating whether or not he should go in.

"Screw it," he finally muttered under his breath before pushing on the button that opened her door, surprised when he didn't find it locked.

She was sitting crisscross on her bed, absentmindedly twirling a knife around in one hand while the other lay limply in her lap. She didn't look up, and he just watched her for what was almost a full minute.

"Did you miss me?" He finally asked with sarcasm and a smirk. A small smile came across her face as she chuckled, still not taking her eyes off the knife.

"Course I did," she replied, though he couldn't tell if she was joking or serious. "Living with Kendra and Ray, not easy to do when you're not around to bounce insults off of." She continued and Len's smirk changed to a smile of amusement as he finally pushed himself off the doorframe and walked fully into the room.

"I've never known you to throw insults," he commented

"When you're not around, somebody's got to." She said and again it was quite, until she finally looked up and met his eyes. "How long was it, to you guys?" She finally asked and he let out a long sigh while taking a seat next to her on her bed. He half expected her to shove him off but instead she scooted over to make room.

"Six hours," he answered and she leaned back a little with a slightly surprised look on her face, clearly she had been hoping a more significant amount of time had gone by for them. "Two years really isn't that bad," he said, for whatever reason he felt the need to try and cheer her up.

"It might only count as one for me," she said, leaning back against the wall at this point.

"How do you figure?" Len asked, joining her in leaning back.

"I was dead for a year, and I'm still not sure if that year counted or not. Before you left me behind I wasn't sure if I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine, now I think I could be anywhere between twenty-nine and thirty-one." She explained,

"Well if it makes you feel any better I don't think any of us are going to know our real age by the time this is all over." He said but that barely seemed to do anything.

"I'm sorry," She finally said after another long moment of silence, Len just looked at her quizzically but she wouldn't meet his gaze.

"For what?" He asked,

"We sat out in that field for… an hour, before I decided that you weren't coming back." She admitted, now turning to meet his gaze. "Ray and Kendra kept saying for a few weeks that you guys would come back for us but I kept telling them you wouldn't." She continued and again it was quiet between them for minute.

"Good," He finally said and Sara raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't sit around waiting to be rescued, people like that are the people that survive." He told her but it didn't seem to help.

"Survive but usually they survive alone." She said and if Len didn't know better he would swear he heard a crack of tears in her voice.

Looking down at her he saw that her gaze was once again focused on the wall across from them, her face stoic as always. She felt something, something that she was hiding. He knew a part of that had to be regret, this mission was supposed to be redemption for her but instead she had taken about twelve steps backwards. But there was something else in there, something that he couldn't read.

"You think you're alone Sara, but you're not." He finally said and she turned her head to look up at him. He didn't say anything, just looked down at her and waited for her to say something. She didn't say anything though, just let her head fall onto his shoulder. When she did this Len reached out and took one of her hands in his, internally happy about the fact that she didn't pull away.

They sat there for what felt like hours. Time didn't seem to pass, but then again the ship was currently in the temporal zone so maybe it didn't. They didn't move, save for Len moving his thumb soothingly over Sara's knuckles. Eventually he heard the sound of her breath evening out and the question he had been asking himself for awhile now was answered, she was asleep. He debated on what to do; knowing that she's probably a very light sleeper and so any attempts he made to leave would wake her up. He told himself that is the only reason he's hesitant to leave. That she needs her rest.

 _"Right,"_ he thought to himself sarcastically, _"And staying in the med bay until she woke up, thinking about the best way to make Raymond and Kendra suffer for letting her go, and coming here to check on her in the first place is just something you would do for anybody on the team."_

Shaking his head he silenced his thoughts, for now at least. He's sure that he'll have to deal with them later but for now he has to focus on getting out of here.

* * *

"Miss Lance and Mr. Snart, Captain Hunter has asked me to inform the two of you that dinner is being served." Gideon's voice chimed from nowhere and everywhere, causing Sara's eyes to snap open upon her ears processing the sudden, and rather loud, robotic voice.

"Thank you Gideon," Len groaned, all his consideration not to wake Sara and the AI went and did it.

Upon hearing his voice as she removed her head from his shoulder and made to stretch, only to realize that her arm's had been wrapped around his, did Sara realize that Len was still here.

"How long was I asleep?" She yawned as she untangled her arms from him.

"About an hour," He replied, checking his phone for the time. She blinked in surprise, it isn't like her to fall asleep by accident and it certainly isn't like him to just allow himself to be used as a pillow.

"Are you joining us for dinner?" He asked, not letting her question the last hour further, she shook her head.

"I'm gonna just stay in here tonight," she replied and to her slight surprise, although not really, he looked disappointed but said nothing as he got off her bed and left the room.

* * *

"Sara not coming?" Kendra asked sadly when Snart showed up in the kitchen alone. It wasn't often that they ate dinner together as a team; normally they all just made their own dinner and ate it whenever they decided to. But clearly after everything that has happened lately somebody, Len would guess Kendra, thought it would be good for them to eat together.

"Not tonight," he replied, his usual tone of voice perfectly in place. The others looked worried by this news but they said nothing about it, they all know that Sara isn't one to respond to force.

They ate in silence. Len finished first, in less than ten minutes, then made a second plate before leaving the room with it and heading off in the direction of the barracks. When he reached Sara's door and pressed the button to open it he found that this time it was locked.

"Sara it's me, open up." He called,

"Just a second," her voice replied and so he waited there patiently until the door finally slid open. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon," she said when she answered the door and Len noticed that she had changed into a pair of pink sweatpants and an old t-shirt. A part of him was slightly amused by this, she didn't really seem like the type to wear pink, but another part of him was worried.

"Never known you to lock the door when you change," he observed but her eyes were on the plate of macaroni and cheese in his hand, the kind that doesn't come out of the box.

He took this as a good sign; at least her appetite isn't gone.

"Here," he said, handing her the plate and her eyes flicked back to him as he invited himself into her room. She did nothing about it except for take the plate and press the button for the door to shut behind her.

"If you don't lock your door in the league, you're just asking for someone to sneak in and kill you." She explained and Len unconsciously clenched his fist for a brief moment at the thought, but then caught himself and unclenched. He followed Sara as she went and sat on her bed, and watched with delight as her face practically melted with happiness when she took a bite of her dinner.

"Real food, one thing I've missed in the past six months." She defended and Len smirked.

They sat in silence for as she ate, the only sound being that for Sara's fork hitting against her plate. Len had heard Raymond say something to Kendra at dinner about how macaroni and cheese is Sara's favorite. He assumed Kendra had made it in an attempt to draw the blonde out of her room. She may have failed on that front but the food did seem to lift Sara's mood, which is a step in the right direction. Eventually Sara finished her dinner and set her plate on the bedside table and still the two of them were quiet.

"Well it's been two years since we last saw each other, what's new?" Len finally asked, a little sarcasm to his voice, just enough to make Sara smirk.

"Not much," she replied, "How was fighting Chronos?" She asked but suddenly she wished she hadn't, judging by the way Len's face fell it hadn't been good.

"Funny thing about that," he finally said, "Turns out Mick is even more pissed off at me than I thought." He told her, he knew that she knew he hadn't actually killed Mick. He could fool the others, but he couldn't fool the girl whose killed more people that the rest of the team combined. She knows what that kind of guilt looks like all too well.

"No," she drawled in shock, looking at him with wide and unbelieving eyes. Of course she knew he didn't kill Mick but this? She never thought this was a possibility.

"Mick's angry and he wants revenge, plus the time masters offered him a reward for our capture or execution, they don't really care which." He admitted and Sara looked away for a minute, not knowing what to say. "I should've killed him," Len finally spoke up and Sara put her attention back to him.

"No," she said and Len met her eyes to find that they were dead serious. "We can handle Mick," she assured him but he shook his head.

"He was pretty clear, after he handcuffed me to a bomb, that he goes by Chronos now." He said and again Sara's eyes widened.

"He handcuffed you to a bomb?" She demanded

"Yup, and Mick knows I know how to get out of handcuffs. He used some special kind the time masters gave him. Thankfully Rip was able to get me out before it went off, not that he made it his top priority." He said somewhat bitterly and Sara rolled her eyes.

"I see Rip hasn't changed much in two years," she muttered,

"Well it has only been six hours for him," Len reminded and Sara rolled her eyes, she didn't want to be reminded. "But if we leave anybody behind again, I vote him." He continued and Sara nodded.

"Agreed," she said and a few more minutes passed in silence before Len started to get up.

"Well I should get going; I'm sure you're dying to sleep in your own bed." He said as he headed for the door, when he reached it he turned back around just enough to look at her staring back at him.

"It's good to have you back," he said with a sincere smile, she smirked at the sight.

"It's only been six hours," she half mocked

"Doesn't mean I didn't miss you," And with that he left her room and headed down the hall to his own, leaving her to smile as she watched him go.


	5. A House Divided

**So this chapter was requested by starfire25, who asked to see some bromance stuff between Len and Ray.**

* * *

"Ok I give up," Snart was sitting on his bed; tinkering with his cold gun, when his door slid open and Raymond started talking. "I've been combing through everything in my room for the past ten minutes and I can't find anything missing, what did you take?" He demanded and Len snickered at the accusation.

"You don't have anything worth stealing," He drawled out, "Besides if I had stolen something you wouldn't even know I was there." He pointed out but Ray's expression as still accusing as ever.

"Well I do know you were there," he said, gesturing to the bulky object in his left hand that Snart was half surprised to see he was holding correctly. "So what, is this thing going to explode when I'm sleeping or something?" He continued and although Len was amused and maybe even tempted by the idea he shook his head.

"No Raymond that thing isn't going to hurt you unless of course you take the safety off before figuring out how to use it properly." He said and briefly Ray glanced down at the heat gun in his hand as if looking for the safety. He still didn't understand why Snart had left it on his bed to begin with. Nobody had even seen the gun since Rory… well since Rory. But then today Ray went into his room and found the weapon laying on his bed, and there's only one person on the whole ship who could've put it there.

The only question is why.

"Are we done here?" Snart's cold voice snapped Ray out of his thoughts and back to the present situation.

"Yeah," He said and with that he left but Snart snickered to himself, because he could tell that no they weren't done, and poor Raymond was still paranoid as ever over the gun.

After leaving Snart's doorway Ray headed strait for the armory and placed the gun on it's custom rack, if that thing blows up it certainly won't be making a crater out his room. Admittedly he was still very curious as to why Captain Cold had suddenly decided to place his ex-partner's weapon on the bed of the team member everyone, eve Ray himself, knows he hates most. Even if the ice villain had wired the gun into a bomb, something Ray didn't entirely doubt he knew how to do, why now? Why after all these weeks did he suddenly decided that he was going to blow up Ray's room and possibly Ray himself? He didn't think he had done anything to make Snart hate him more than usual, and they were currently docked in October of 1942 so this probably wasn't Snart's idea of an April's Fools prank. Although Ray had to admit that the crook probably would get pleasure out of watching him live in a constant state of paranoia that his room was going to spontaneously light on fire. Ray shivered at the thought, this better not be a prank.

* * *

Meanwhile Ray wasn't the only one who was worried about the true motives of his teammates. Sara had offered to make dinner tonight, and that was enough to make Professor Stein nervous.

"Why don't we just let Gideon make dinner?" He suggested when he saw Sara cooking and realized that she had been serious about her offer.

"Because no offence to Gideon but her food taste worse than a school cafeteria's," Sara replied; much like the ship has a clothing replicator it also has a food replicator, however much like the clothes are fairly easy to rip after wearing them a few times the food is usually very bland and tasteless.

"It's not that bad," Stein tried to say but it was pretty much useless since he's a terrible liar.

"What's the matter Professor? You think I can't cook?" Sara asked, the teasing hint of a pout playing on her lips.

"No it's just that you've never offered to make dinner before, usually you're very content to simply make yourself a sandwich and it's normally Kendra or myself insisting that we all sit down and eat together." He babbled, trying to talk himself back to a safe zone. The truth is he really has no idea if Sara's a bad cook or not, it's not usually her style to make dinner for the team and with it being so soon after their mission in 1958, where she reminded him twice that she knows how to slowly kill a person over the course of days, well her sudden interest in a family dinner was a bit concerning to him.

"What can I say?" She said with a shrug as she continued what she was doing, "I spent six months back in the league where dinner meant sitting alone in your quarters eating whatever game you managed to squirrel away." She replied and Stein nodded nervously before he decided that it might be best to just avoid dinner, after all it's only his plate she would poison anyway.

* * *

"Would you take a break?" Kendra asked from where she was laying on her stomach on Ray's bed, propped up on her elbows as she watched him work on his suit. He'd been tinkering with it for over an hour now and normally that is normal for him, but the way he compulsively obsessed over every little piece of it today was not.

"Huh?" He asked, turning his attention to her for the first time since she'd entered the room. "Sorry it's just, I'm making sure Snart didn't tamper with my suit in the two years we were gone." He said and a quizzical look overtook Kendra's face as she pushed herself in a sitting position, Ray finally coming to sit beside her.

"Why would he do that?" She asked and Ray sighed,

"Well if you haven't noticed Snart hates me," he began but Kendra's confusion only deepened as she started absentmindedly rubbing his arm.

"He doesn't hate you," she said, "I mean you guys aren't exactly best friends but he doesn't hate you." She tried to assure him but he only sighed.

"That's what I thought but this morning he snuck in here and left Rory's old gun on my bed, he says it wasn't rigged to spontaneously combust but I put it in the armory just in case." He explained,

"Why would he give you Rory's gun?" Kendra asked and her boyfriend opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off. "And don't say so it could blow you up," she said and again Ray looked like he was going to say something, after obviously changing his answer, but she spoke up again. "Or set you on fire, set your room on fire, or set your bed on fire with you in it." She amended and this time Ray clamped his mouth shut. "Ray he doesn't hate you, whatever reason he had for leaving that in here it wasn't to hurt you." She insisted and Ray sighed,

"Alright," he accepted before grabbing her hand, "Come on let's go see if dinner's ready."

* * *

"Gideon has discovered that Vandal Savage is currently running a secret genetics lab here in Manhattan in 1942, we should be able to catch him there tonight." Rip announced while everyone was sitting around the kitchen, at either the table or bar, eating dinner.

"Sure, hundredth time's the charm." Len mocked and Rip shot him a glare.

"Yo Gray, you sure you don't want any chicken?" Jax questioned his partner, Sara had made fried chicken for dinner and while it wasn't the best it was far from horrible and the Professor who is always encouraging the group to sit down and eat as a team was just sitting off on a barstool eating a bologna sandwich.

"I'm fine Jefferson thank you," he insisted and Jax just shook his head, he knew that Stein wasn't really fine. He could tell by the fact that despite having been starving before dinner once he walked into the kitchen he suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. But he forced himself to eat at least a little because he knew there wasn't anything wrong with him, but with Gray.

"Come on Professor I promise I'm not that bad of a cook, nobody's dead." Sara joked, Stein felt his heart sink a little when she did, and Jax's did too.

The second he felt his heart sink with fear Jax directed an angry glare at the other half of Firestorm.

"Oh no," he said, the anger that suddenly laced his voice drawing the attention of the rest of the team. "You have got to be kidding me," he said dangerously and when he stood up Stein suddenly grew very nervous. Jax marched right over to his partner, "Can I talk to you?" He more demanded than asked and preceded to grab the Professor by the arm and all but pull him off the barstool before leading him out into the hall, leaving the rest of the team very confused.

* * *

"Jefferson what-?"

"You know you're pretty small minded for a guy with such a big brain," Jax whispered angrily when the two were out of earshot from the rest of the team back in the kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Stein asked, yanking his arm free of the younger man's grip, his voice nearly matching Jax's intensity.

"I knew you weren't eating much because you were nervous, but when Sara joked that she hadn't killed us and I felt that anxiety increase… man Gray Sara's been through a lot. We stranded her in the 1950's for two years! Do you think she wanted to go back to killing people?" He demanded, "We got her back here and she barely left her room for a week! Now she finally came out, finally decided to try and be part of the team again, and you're worried she's secretly trying to kill us!" He exclaimed, his frustration basically through the roof.

"No Jefferson you have this all wrong, I am not worried about Miss Lance's loyalty to the team." The older man tried to explain, Jax only glared at him.

"Then tell me what it is that I'm missing," he demanded and Stein gave a sigh, knowing there was no point in lying considering Jax would be able to tell anyway.

"I'm not worried she's trying to kill you, I'm worried that she may try and kill me." He confessed and, sensing his honesty, Jax rubbed a hand over his face and looked away as he tried to process this. "It's absurd I know-"

"Absurd?" Jax demanded, "How about completely stupid! Ridiculous, crazy, whatever other words you have for it!" He all but shouted; he was trying to keep his voice down so that no one else would hear them but it wasn't an easy task. "Look Sara is a member of our team, and there's never been a time that she didn't have our backs. I learned my lesson in the 50's with Snart, now it's your turn." He scolded and with that the younger man turned to head back to the kitchen and leave his other half in the hallway.

* * *

"Remind me again why we keep challenging Savage on his own turf?" Len demanded later on that night and during the heat of battle. They had snuck into the genetics lab as planned and this time they lasted a whopping five minutes before Len and Sara, who were staking out the roof, noticed Savage on the street below enter the building. Len opened up the skylight to warn Raymond and The Professor, who were posing as employees in the room blow, when instead of taking the warning Ray chucked a beaker at him.

Long story short the biologist in the next room heard the shattering glass, because Ray's aim isn't the best and instead of hitting Len he just shattered the beaker against the ceiling, and raced in to make sure everything was ok. She knew that the lab was not the workplace of Ray and Stein, so she called security, and the current battle had ensued.

"Good question," Sara agreed as she and Len took out two guards each. The two of them had jumped down into the lab just as the fight began to help the others, Jax and Kendra had arrived and Ray had his suit in his pocket so one would think that the fight would be over quickly.

However one would turn out to be wrong.

What should have been an easy fight against the guards was turning out to be a nightmare. Len told Ray to look out behind him and he just hovered in mid air for a minute like he was thinking it over, thus resulting in him being electrocuted and his suit overloading until it was useless. Meanwhile Jax's attacks were far less accurate than usual but no one thought too much of it, they were all a little too preoccupied anyway, until he finally grew fed up with the old man inside his head.

"Gray would you stop worrying that Sara's going to lose it and attack us?!" He demanded, prompting Sara to whip her head around. "I can't focus!" Jax continued, not yet realizing that Sara heard him.

"What?" She demanded and suddenly he was very aware of his mistake.

"Hey! I'm the only one that can hear you right now Gray!" Jax snapped when the voice in his head suddenly started stuttering an incoherent explanation.

"Jax?" Sara growled,

"Hey I'm on your side!" He quickly defended, now wondering if maybe she was considering killing him.

If she was she didn't have a chance to because Savage, who had a knife, cornered Kendra and Sara was the first to notice. She pulled herself away from the argument and snuck up behind Savage, but he sensed her. Quickly he spun around to stab Sara instead of Kendra but she dodged the knife.

"You're good," he praised before kicking her legs out from under her. "But I'm better," he sneered and she only smirked.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said before reaching a foot up and kicking him where it hurts. He buckled down in his spot and his grip tightened around his knife but aside from that there was no reaction.

Meanwhile, behind them, Kendra tried to stab Savage but two of his men got in her way and one managed to get the knife from her. She wanted to go after him, but Jax was calling for her help. Ray was still out and he needed help to fly him back to the ship. So she went and helped, they'd get the knife back, another time.

* * *

"What happened?" Rip demanded in the most violet voice any member of the team had ever heard from him. He'd waited for Ray to wake up and be cleared by Gideon to question them, and boy was Ray wishing he hadn't. "Hm?" He hummed, still violently. "We lost the ONLY weapon that can possibly be used to defeat Savage because Ms. Saunders had to help Mr. Jackson drag Mr. Palmer out of the building because he froze up?" He demanded, fixing a glare on Ray.

Let it be known that there isn't a single person on this team who has much respect for Rip, let alone someone who fears him. That being said there also isn't a single person on the team who would've liked to be in Ray's shoes right now.

"I froze," Ray finally spluttered out.

"YOU FROZE!?" Rip demanded,

"Yes," Ray gulped, "Snart told me to look out and I thought…" he trailed off; he didn't want to finish that sentence.

"You thought what?" Rip growled and again Ray gulped.

"I thought he was trying to trick me," he practically squeaked out, now he had Len's undivided attention.

"Mr. Snart?" Rip demanded of the ice villain who simply raised his hands in a mock surrender.

"For once I didn't do anything Captain, whatever Raymond's problem is its pure paranoia." He defended and Sara, who had been standing there with her arms crossed, finally spoke up.

"Speaking of paranoia, Stein thinks I'm going to go bloodlust on the team." She accused and Stein's face turned white as his hair as all eyes fell onto him.

"Kendra and Jax could you two step out of a moment please?" Rip asked and without a word the only two members of the team who didn't apparently have problems with a teammate left the bridge. "Work this out," Rip ordered before he followed Kendra and Jax.

Ray turned to Len, Len glared at Ray, Sara looked at Stein, and Stein found a very interesting spot on the ceiling for his attention.

"So did freezing up have anything to do with the beaker you threw at my head?" Len finally broke the silence, Ray looked at him in surprise.

"I just wasn't expecting to you to say anything, you scared me." He tried to defend,

"So freezing up?" Sara asked and this time Ray had no prepared answer, so he just clamped his mouth shut.

"Alright fine, let's focus on why the Professor thinks Sara's going to turn feral on us." Len suggested, causing everyone to level a glare at Stein until his eyes were finally on them.

"Which for the record if I ever did," Sara began before glancing over her shoulder at Len who nodded reassuringly. "We've got it covered." She assured Stein.

"How?" Ray asked

"None of your concern Raymond," Len insisted.

"Actually Mr. Snart I believe it is all of our concern, especially after the last time you _handled_ a team liability." Stein insisted and that made Sara grit her teeth and clench her fists, which Stein noticed so he backed just a little bit away from her.

"There's a hidden compartment on the side of my gun, she asked me to keep a tranquilizer in it." He explained,

"And why should we trust you with it?" Stein asked but he regretted it when Sara walked into his personal space and looked him dead in the eye.

"Because if it were up to you I'd be tranqued right now," she said in a low voice, one that Snart knew held no danger. She then backed off and waited for the Professor to say something.

"It's nothing really," he finally started, "It's just that when we were in 1958 you kindly reminded me, more than once, that you are capable of slowly killing a person over the course of days." He explained and it was quiet for a minute, before Sara started laughing.

"I just wanted you to stop ordering me around, I wasn't actually going to kill you for it. Besides that was two years ago for me, even I don't hold a grudge that long." She told him and when the old man looked relieved the blonde left the room still laughing quietly to herself.

"Well then I guess that's all set," Stein said, heading for the exit. "I'll just leave you two to talk amongst yourselves."

For a moment it was quiet. Just Ray avoiding eye contact with the cold hearted man whom he could feel burning icy holes into his very soul.

"So what's your problem Raymond?" Snart finally asked,

"Why did you plant your ex-partners gun on my bed?" Ray questioned, finally turning to face Len. Just like Sara had upon hearing Stein's issue Snart began to laugh as he walked closer to the younger man.

"Is that was this is about?" He asked and Ray barely gave him a nod. "I gave you that gun Raymond because Mick would've wanted you to have it." He said and if Ray didn't think he was crazy, or lying, before he certainly did now. "If it were up to me Sara would've gotten it," he went on to continue, "But it's not up to me."

"So what? Mick had a will?" Ray half joked, half seriously considered. But the look Snart gave him made him regret it.

"Believe it or not Raymond, Mick liked you." He said, eyeing him with a completely serious expression. "There were three people on this ship that Mick liked; myself, Sara, and you." He explained further.

"Why me?" Ray found himself asking; Mick and Snart had been friends and partners for who knows how long so that was easy, and Sara had taken an early shine to the pair. But him? That one Ray couldn't figure out.

"Beats me," Snart claimed, "But after you took a beating for him in Russia he started talking like he respected you, and believe me that's a rare sight, Mick never respected anyone in his life." He continued to explain.

Ray just stood there for a moment, taking the information in. Honestly, he'd been surprised that Mick didn't just leave him there to rot in that gulag. So when he realized that the arsonist had carried him back to the ship he decided that Mick must have figured he owed him, he never thought Mick respected him.

"Now what you do with the gun is up to you," Snart informed him, "You can use it, or you can lock it away, I know it's not really your style. But I promise you I didn't tamper with it." He continued and when Ray realized that he was serious a small smile came onto his face.

"You know I was wrong about you Snart, the fact that you're doing what Mick would've wanted shows that you're not such a bad guy." He said and with that he tried to give the other man a friendly hug, tried being the keyword. He quickly realized that such a move was a mistake when Len tightly grabbed the back of his shirt and forced him off.

"I am a VERY bad guy," he seethed, still not letting go of the back of Ray's shirt.

"Message received," Ray confirmed, his voice indicating the sudden state of terror he was in. Len then pushed him to the ground and stepped over his body as he left the room, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

"Come find me if you want to learn how to use that thing," he called over his shoulder.


	6. Cover Stories and Family Bonding: Part 1

**This one was another request by starfire25 who asked for a crazy and crack filled team bonding fic, i tried my best but apparently i'm a little too grounded in reality to pull off any insane crack stuff. So this is my best shot and this is going to be a two parter, hopefully with the second part having more silliness!**

* * *

This, by far, had to be Rip's worst idea ever.

He told them to look on the bright side of it. That it was a break from all the insanity that hunting Savage brings and they can act like normal people for a little while. Of course he didn't say any of this with a smile and not until after he spewed his own fit of rage over their current predicament, he was more upset than any of them. Somewhere alone the timeline Savage teamed up with Chronos and an encounter with the two left the Waverider damaged almost beyond repair and definitely unfit for travel.

They had crash-landed in the middle of nowhere, but at least it wasn't in the apocalypse like last time. After exploring around where they landed they found that they might as well be in the middle of nowhere. They apparently had landed in some backwater town in 1986 and judging by the Waverider's condition they were going to be there awhile. Thus bringing us to the worst idea Rip has ever had; he used some of the relatively undamaged future technology to obtain what they needed to put a down payment on a vacant house on the outskirts of the town not far from where the ship crashed. In theory this isn't such a terrible idea, but it has one major catch: everyone has to live there and stick to a story.

Sure they all live together on the Waverider but they all have their separate quarters and, more importantly, they can be themselves. A group of seven people suddenly showing up in a town where nothing ever happens and moving into a house that apparently went abandoned in the forties is going to raise some heads. So they needed a cover story and the best that they could come up with was that they were one miss-matched mess of a family. The group knew that they couldn't get away with saying they were all related so the cover story ended up being the one thing a cover story never should be: complicated.

Once again Ray and Kendra were the married couple; that was becoming a staple when inventing cover stories. They decided that Jax could pass for Kendra's younger brother, something that only Stein found awkward while Jax just considered it the final seal of his fate. They also decided that Stein could pull off being Sara's father and although Ray and Sara don't exactly look like siblings they could get away with the story as cousins.

"Why do your Uncle and cousin live with you?" Sara asked and Ray shrugged,

"Nobody would question my father and sister, we can just say he raised me." Ray replied.

Once that was determined they decided that Len would be a friend of Ray's who was staying with the family and that Rip, who would be faking an American accent in public to avoid any extra attention, was Stein's business partner and therefor had to stay with the family as well because they had moved so far away. Now what exactly this business is and where they had moved from are two completely different stories that were left with simple answers. The business is complicated and they moved from Central City, a place far away that they could actually answer questions about if need be.

So that's how they ended up here, standing in front of a very creepy looking two story house, three stories counting the attic, with the knowledge that they were probably going to spend a few months here. From the instant Rip opened the door a cloud of dust clogged everyone's lungs and caused multiple fits of coughing.

"Ok first on the list, cleaning." The Captain decided,

"Using what?" Len questioned,

"Out of every possible thing that could've survived the crash, most of the Waverider's cleaning supplies were unharmed." Rip replied; his voice and posture making it clear that he's still on edge.

"Hang on, before we start cleaning up we need to figure out the sleeping situation." Sara said, back on the Waverider they each had their own room. Granted these rooms were the size of a typical college dorm room but they were still their own.

"Right, according to the realtor this place has three bedrooms so it looks like everyone is going to have to share." Rip said and the others all exchanged glances, silently trying to decide who was going to be stuck with who.

"Kendra and I will share," Ray volunteered and Rip nodded.

"Hold up," Jax said, "Didn't the realtor say that this place has an attic?" He asked and again Rip nodded.

"Yes, why?" He asked,

"Well it's not like we have any junk we need to store up there, why don't we turn the place into a fourth bedroom?" He suggested and the idea was met with a mix of murmured agreements.

In the end the bedroom arrangements ended with Kendra and Ray in the attic, Rip and Stein in the first bedroom, Snart and Jax in the second, and Sara alone in the third. Rip tried arguing, of course, that since he's the captain he should get the single room but Snart was quick to point out that without the Waverider he isn't the captain of anything. Not to mention no one else was willing to share with Stein; Jax claiming he spends enough time with the old man nagging him already, Sara arguing that she's to old to share a room with her father (that one earned an eye roll from Stein), and Len threatening to ice the old man if he had to share a room with him. So in the end Rip and Sara compromised that he wouldn't whine about it if she took the small bedroom.

* * *

All that was yesterday.

By the time they figured out their story, got to the house, and figured out the bedroom situation they didn't have much time for cleaning or anything else and the attic was such a cobwebbed mess that Kendra and Ray slept on the almost as gross couch. That was one perk to investing in a house that had been abandoned; most of the furniture was already there. The downside, of course, being that it was coated in dust and had this awful sour smell to it.

"Normally I'm not one to complain about the cold," Len began to drawl as Sara made her way throughout the first floor of the house on their first morning, throwing open every window that she came across. "But it's freezing outside,"

"Nothing in this house has seen fresh air in almost fifty years, it smells and needs to air out." Sara argued and although Len didn't say anything that was when Kendra and Jax entered the room, apparently having overheard the conversation.

"Yeah but seriously, do you have to open every window?" Jax questioned as he ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to keep himself warm.

"Aright fine, I've got some money I'll go to the store and get some stuff for lunch." She said before marching briskly out of the room, not in the mood to deal with any of her teammates.

"What's with her?" Jax questioned,

"Don't know," Len replied, he wouldn't admit it but he was just a little curious as to why Sara's temper seemed to have skyrocketed over opening the windows.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ray asked as he came into the room, wrapping his arms around Kendra's waist from behind. Jax took one look at those two and decided that suddenly he couldn't take staying in this house for another minute either.

"Sara's heading out to the store to pick up whatever she can with whatever money she has," Len informed Ray as Jax started to leave.

"I'm going with her," The younger man said over his shoulder.

"Oh can you get me-?" Ray's questioned was cut off by the sound of the front door shutting harshly behind Jax.

"Guess that's a no," Len remarked with a smirk.

* * *

"What happened to your knee injury?" Sara asked as Jax sat in the passenger seat of their stolen car while she drove, she had gotten all the way to the end of the street when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw the youngest member of the team chasing after her at full speed.

"I needed to get away from that house," Jax replied curtly and Sara nodded, knowing not to ask any questions and instead just to let him cool down.

"You and me both," she replied but clearly Jax needed a distraction and didn't get the same vibe from her that she got from him.

"Why?" He asked, when she only pressed her lips into a firm line he kept pressing. "Look I'm sorry we asked you not to open every window, but I don't see how that made you mad." He continued and this time Sara let out a sigh as they rolled up to a red light.

"It's not that," she said but that was it.

"Then what is it?" Jax questioned and he could tell by the look on her face that it was this whole situation. There was something about living in the house that had generated that quick end to her temper but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Nothing," she replied, this time he had the sense not to press further.

* * *

"AH!" A shout rang through the house; Len and Stein were the first to reach the source, which turned out to be the kitchen, or more specifically Ray on fire in the kitchen.

Without a second thought Len set his gun to it's least deadly setting and blasted Ray in order to put out the flames. By the time Kendra got there Len was just finishing and her boyfriend was standing in the kitchen sopping wet and shaking like drowned Chihuahua. Everyone stood there silently for a minute; Kendra with both hands over her mouth, Stein with his mouth agape, Len with a mix between an annoyed sneer and a questioning eyebrow, and Ray just looked plain defeated.

"There's a problem with the oven," he finally muttered, moving and pushing through the three standing in the doorway with every intention of going to find some dry clothes.

* * *

"Nothing that needs to be refrigerated, I doubt the one at the house works." Sara said to Jax as she grabbed a shopping cart and they headed into the store.

The supermarket wasn't that big but it was big enough that Sara was sure they would be able to get everything they needed without stopping somewhere else. They picked up toilet paper and paper towels, some juice, they got a thing of coffee and Sara prayed they had a coffee pot back at the house, and they got some pancake mix.

"We can't get milk," Sara reminded Jax as he tossed a box of cereal into the cart.

"I'll eat it dry," he replied with a shrug,

"Ok," she replied, turning the cart around, "Let's just get some bread, peanut butter, and jelly then we should be good." She said,

"Peanut butter and jelly for lunch?" Jax asked and Sara nodded,

"Yup, we're also going to need some plastic utensils, cups, and plates, plus I don't know what we're doing for supper." She listed and Jax wanted to say that considering the amount of time it's going to take him and Rip to fix the Waverider they might want to get some real utensils and stuff but he decided against it, besides they might be able to raid the ship for that stuff.

"Let's just order a pizza for supper, that was a thing in 1986 right?" The younger man questioned and Sara couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes Jax, although we don't have a working phone at the house." She replied, stopping at a display with jars of both peanut butter and jelly.

"Then we'll go out for pizza, and I don't know what was around in the 80's. I wasn't born yet." He defended,

"I was born in '87, so technically you don't have an excuse." She argued and Jax rolled his eyes. They continued around the store for a little while longer, getting the last of what they needed and making small talk, before they finally approached the register.

"Are you kids new in town?" The cahier asked as she rang them up. She was an older lady, probably around Stein's age, with graying brown hair and glasses. It was clear by her observation that she knew everyone in this town.

"Yeah, I'm Jax and this is Sara my…" Jax trailed off as he went through the cover story in his head and tried to figure out the term for what he and Sara are to each other.

"Cousin," Sara supplied, "Or technically cousin in law but nobody really says that, we just moved here with the rest of our family." She continued and the woman nodded as she bagged up their groceries.

"Well honey don't worry about explaining how you're related; town's like this everyone's related to someone, even if they aren't. We've got cousins that call themselves brothers, kids who call their neighbors aunt, it's a very familial town." She said, her voice was a little too nasally for Sara's liking but she was sweet nonetheless, and knowing that their cover story probably wouldn't be questioned was a huge relief.

* * *

"Would you get off my back Hunter?" Len requested as he stood in front of the TV the team had bought second hand, carefully adjusting the antenna.

"Mr. Snart I am just saying that you should not have gone and bought a television, the longer we stay here in 1986 the more we are likely to be affected by time drift. We can't afford to help that along by starting any sort of life." Rip lectured and Len grit his teeth in frustration, though only half with Rip. The other half was because of this stupid antenna that didn't seem to want to find a signal.

"While I agree that we don't want to put down a life here, we are stuck here and a TV is at least going to keep us from killing each other." Sara offered from her seat on the couch.

"You all live together on the Waverider just fine," Rip reminded her,

"Because we have TV," Len cut in, "Now will you please shut up and let me concentrate?" He continued to demand, his patients were wearing thin already and now he could tell that his inability to hold the antennas steady was coming from his growing annoyance with the Englishman behind him.

Rip rolled his eyes but let the matter drop; they'd lived here in 1986 for a week now and already there had been more than a few issues. It wasn't until yesterday that Professor Stein was able to fix the oven and so it turns out that Mr. Snart returned to the house with that microwave a little too late. In addition to that Sara seemed to be in a never ending foul mood and everyone knew that it's in Rip's best interest to avoid Jax for a while, they had both been working on repairs to the Waverider until two days ago when things between them got a little heated. All in all maybe a television wouldn't be the worst thing to have in the house.

"I'm off to work," Kendra called from the hallway and she almost made it out the front door before her words processed in Rip's head, almost.

"Work?" He questioned, the pitch in his voice hitting a new high as he turned on his heel and marched out of the living room, stopping Kendra just as she got her hand on the doorknob. "Kendra you've experienced time drift first hand, you know this risks of making a life somewhere other than your own time." He half scolded half warned but Kendra just crossed her arms.

"Yeah well we're stuck here until the Waverider is fixed and considering we're in 1986 with no way of getting parts from the future it could take months for you and Jax to get the ship running, so until then we need to be able to make payments on this place and buy food." She defended herself and for once Rip knew that she was right. "So I'm off to work, Ray's off at an interview, and Jax has a shift later this afternoon at a garage in town." She continued and Rip looked shocked to hear that three members of his team had gone out and found jobs without his knowledge but before he could say anything about it Kendra was gone and behind him he could faintly hear the triumphant cheers of Sara and Leonard in the living room as the TV finally found a signal.

* * *

The new TV brought a new tradition to the group, movie night. It started when Mr. Snart managed to beat the others to the TV after dinner one evening and started watching _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. Sara was quick to join him and the others eventually followed. After that it became almost tradition that they go to the video store once a week and rent a movie or two that they would watch various times throughout the week until they were due back and so they'd pick up a new one.

Snart couldn't help but notice Sara's bright smile the first time they walked into the video store, it was practically the first real smile she'd given since they crashed. He could tell that she was happy, but he was slightly confused when she made her way for the kid's section.

"Never pegged you for the princess type," he mocked as she looked at a _Cinderella_ tape.

"My parents used to bring Laurel and me here all the time, or a place like here anyway." She told him and he was quiet, the way her nostalgic smile lit up her face she looked to be the happiest he'd ever seen her, maybe the happiest she had been since before she got on that boat. That's why she was in this section, because this is the section she would've raced to as a child. "We'd always fight over which movie we were getting, sometimes if we were good or did extra chores at home mom would let us each get our own." She reminisced and with an amused smirk Len scanned across the isles until he found Jax and Stein rolling their eyes at each other.

"Looks like you and your sister weren't the only ones," he commented, cocking his head over at the bickering pair. Sara chuckled at the sight as she put her video back on the shelf. "Awful as my father was, he did bring Lisa and I here from time to time." He began and Sara looked up at him with attentive eyes. "It was mostly when he had a job coming up that he decided to bring me for. Lisa needed to be entertained at home so that she wouldn't get scared and call the police, so he'd rent her a movie. She always wanted to know what was on the top shelf, even when I told her there was nothing she would like she had to see for herself, so I'd pick her up and let her look. It wouldn't have been so annoying if she weren't the most indecisive kid in the face of the earth, my arms still ache at the memory." He mused and although Sara's smile softened it actually seemed to grow brighter, if such a thing was possible.

"Good God no!" Rip's exasperated voice suddenly rang out from nearby and the two looked over at a display to find Kendra and Ray nearly doubled over laughing at Rip's reaction while holding up a videotape.

"What going on?" Sara asked as she and Len approached the three and when Kendra showed them what tape it was she had Len smiled wickedly while Sara just joined the laughter.

"Yes," Len agreed, they needed to get that tape for movie night.

* * *

"I can't believe you're making me watch this," Rip said as the movie began, he had never seen his team so overwhelmingly in agreement for something and if that something weren't so incredibly stupid he would've been happy.

"We're not making you do anything, you are more than welcome to go to bed." Sara mocked from her seat on the floor as they all sat huddled around the TV.

"Come on Rip it's a classic," Ray said, trying to defend the movie.

"Shut up Raymond, it's starting." Len said over his shoulder, as Ray was on the couch while he was on the floor.

"Yo, Steven Spielberg did this?" Jax asked upon seeing the beginning credits but he was met with a resounding "shush!" from everyone. "But there's no sound yet!" He tried to defend only to be met by the same response.

As if to prove Jax wrong it was at that very moment that the TV screen began to make the sounds of a ticking clock, and then when the movie's title card appeared Rip just looked away in sheer disappointment.

 ** _Back to the Future_**


	7. Cover Stories and Family Bonding: Part 2

"Oh please tell me that's a ghost," Jax said one night as he lay wide-awake in bed. He'd been hearing the ceiling creak above him for the past ten minutes or so but he was hoping that it was just the house settling or something, and sure he'd heard some muffled voices but he'd told himself that Kendra and Ray were just talking, but now that he heard a very distinct moan he was running out of lies to tell himself.

"Not a chance," Len replied from his own bed on the other side of the room, "But I'm suddenly very grateful that the walls on the ship are soundproof."

"Man, I thought their bed was on the other side of the room!" Jax exclaimed in annoyance.

"It is, they're not in it." Len said and Jax sat up in bed to look incredulously at him as the older man lay in his bed listening carefully to the sounds above them with a calculating look on his face.

The ceiling was only creaking now and then, certainly not as much as Len figured it would be if both of his upstairs neighbors were shifting around. Of course Kendra might be light and smart enough to keep her movement to a minimum detection, but considering he'd bet that moan came out of her he doubted that theory for the most part.

"Raymond has her against a wall, my bet is her feet are off the ground so they'll probably only last a few more minutes before-" He cut himself off as the sound of footsteps above them clumsily moved closer to his half of the room before they faded away. "They're in bed," he concluded, and Jax just flopped back down with a disgusted look on his face.

"What's the matter kid? Can't handle living below your sister and her husband?" Len teased, he was propped up on his elbow at this point and upon hearing the question Jax sat right back up.

"Ok one, she is not my sister! Two, her and Ray are not married!" He exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at his roommate.

"So it's true? You do have a thing for her?" Len asked and Jax just looked away.

"I don't-"

"Please, like I couldn't figure out what Gideon was going to say when Rip congratulated you on repairing the ship the last time we crashed." Len cut him off and so he just sighed in defeat. Len adjusted himself to sit crisscross on his bed; at this point neither of them was going to sleep any time soon. "Personally I don't know what she sees in Raymond,"

"Dude if this is your idea of a pep talk-"

"But I will say this," Len interrupted Jax's interruption, "From what I know you and Kendra were both more or less thrown into this… insanity by your partners, you're both still trying to figure out what to do with your powers. Bottom line Jax, the two of you are just a little too much alike." He advised and Jax considered the words but they didn't quite make sense in his head.

"I though being alike was usually a good thing?" He asked,

"Depends," Len answered, "Sometimes it is; sometimes two people do need to be alike in order for things work. I'm not so sure about you, but Kendra I think needs someone who came into this willingly, and no offence but considering the old man had to drug and kidnap you I'm guessing that you're the farthest thing from that." It may have sounded cold and blunt, but Jax could tell that in his own way Leonard Snart was actually trying to help him.

"What are you some kind of love expert all of a sudden?" He asked and Len just glared at him, but before he could say anything in a reply a knock came from the outside of their door. The two exchanged glances and looked at their clock, what was someone doing at their door at 12:30 in the morning? "Come in," Jax finally responded and the door opened to reveal a very ticked off looking Sara all but storming in.

"I am going to go up there and kill them," she announced as she shut the door behind her and Len gave a smirk.

"So it's your room that their bed is above?" He asked knowingly, he had all but cased the house when they first moved in out of habit; it's what he does when put into a new surrounding. So he knew that the attic was fairly large and obviously ran over most of the second floor, he also remembered helping Ray assemble the bed in question and suggested it's location, not telling Ray that the only reason he cared enough to help was simply to make sure that he and Jax weren't right below them.

"Yes, and normally I can take it but they won't shut up!" Sara exclaimed, "They're usually pretty quick but they're really going for it tonight. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so freaking loud." She continued to vent and Jax flopped back down with a groan, in absolutely no mood to hear about this.

"You can get your revenge on them later, but don't kill them. Rip needs Kendra in order to kill Savage," Len said to Sara who looked down at him with her arms folded.

"Can I kill Ray?" She asked and Len seemed to at least pretend to consider the idea.

"I won't stop you," he answered and she chuckled. She just stood there for a few more seconds and was about to head back to her room, despite how much she didn't want to, when Len pretty much read her mind. "I get the feeling you don't want to spend the night listening to those two, so if you want you're welcome to sleep in here." He offered and she smiled before climbing next to him in his bed as he made room.

"I swear if I look over there-"

"Don't worry Jax, I think Kendra and Ray have ruined that for awhile." Sara smirked as she made herself comfortable.

* * *

"Morning," Kendra greeted her friends as she usually does when she walked into the kitchen for breakfast, Ray not far behind her.

The others were all in there as usual and going about their morning business. Rip was standing impatiently by the coffee pot while Jax shoveled cereal into his mouth, trying to finish his breakfast before he would be late for work. Sara was lazily stirring her own cereal around in her bowl (they have milk now since adding a refrigerator to the house), a sign that she was just about done. Stein was sitting there with the newspaper while Len filed through the cabinets for the jar of jelly so he could use it on his toast.

"Good morning," Stein greeted, not once taking his eyes off his paper.

"You two have fun making babies last night?" Sara questioned with a completely strait face, not even looking up from her breakfast.

At the question both Ray and Kendra's eyes went about a mile wide and their faces fire truck red, not that anyone noticed once Jax started choking.

"Jefferson," Stein said in concern as he lightly hit his young partner on the back in an attempt to help him get the air back into his lungs.

"We told you not to eat so fast," Len drawled as he took his seat at the table, "we're out of jelly," he continued as if now were an appropriate time to inform the others of this.

"I gotta go to work," Jax said, barely having caught his breath as he pushed away from the table and left for work.

"Is there something someone wants to tell me?" Rip questioned the rest of the group just as they heard the front door close behind Jax.

"Well uh… I think Snart already said it, we're out of jelly." Ray awkwardly stuttered out, somewhat recovering from his embarrassment.

"Sleep in my room for a night, you'll know exactly what we're talking about." Sara said as she got up and placed her bowl in the sink.

"You can hear us?" Kendra asked the blonde; apparently she and Ray were unaware of how loud they really are.

"We can all hear you," Len informed her, "but last night you actually disturbed Sara out of her room." He continued and if it's possible for Kendra's cheeks to grow any redder they did.

"Yeah, I had to camp out in Jax and Snart's room." Sara added, turning around and leaning against the sink.

"Ok stop, stop." Rip ordered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I even have to tell you this, because I thought I could trust you all to be mature adults on this mission, but if you're going to be… engaging in night time activities-"

"Screwing," Len simplified Rip's term.

"Please try and keep it down and PLEASE make sure you use protection," he warned before eyeing Sara then Kendra with a serious look, "If one of you were to fall pregnant I may actually have to leave you here. Time jumping has unpleasant effects on the body already, as you all know, but time jumping while pregnant is extremely dangerous." He warned them, hoping that just this once his team would listen to him.

"Don't worry Rip, we're being careful." Kendra assured him,

"And you don't have to worry about me, I haven't been with a guy in two years." She said smugly, as if she were proud that it was mainly miss goody two shoes that was being warned about sex and not her.

"Just saying," Rips told her, trying to drop the matter.

"Well, fun as this conversation has been, I have to get to work too." Ray said before giving Kendra a quick kiss on the cheek and hurrying out the door, not even bothering to try eating breakfast after that.

* * *

"Did we get everything?" Stein asked Sara, it was their turn to get the groceries and after spending almost an hour in the store it finally looked like they had everything.

"I think so," Sara replied and so they approached the register.

"Hello Ingrid," Stein said with a smile to the old woman at the register who Sara and Jax had met on their first day. They had been living in 1986 for almost three months now and Stein had established a friendship with the cashier.

"Hello Martin, Sara, how are you today?" She asked sweetly like she always did.

"Very well, and you?" Stein asked and the woman smiled her usual warm smile.

"Can't complain, how's the business going?" She asked and Stein just smiled,

"It's going, my partner and I are still trying to find a suitable office but it's going." He replied and Sara couldn't help but huff out a small laugh under her breath, even after three months that mystery business of Rip and Stein's was still as big of a mystery as it was the day they made their cover.

"Well Mr. Reynolds has been talking about selling the antique shop downtown," Ingrid began to suggest.

"Oh you're kidding!?" Stein asked in apparent shock but Ingrid shook her head.

"Low business," she explained, "But you really should talk to him about the building," she suggested, by now she had finished ringing them up and Stein had paid for the groceries and so the two were just standing there talking while Sara gathered up the bags.

"Oh yes I will, it's very unfortunate about Mr. Reynolds but the building would be perfect!" He exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically for Sara's liking.

"Hey, dad," she interrupted, getting his attention. "I hate to rush you but we really should get back, remember that thing out in the field?" She asked, cocking her head towards the door.

"What happened to your field?" Ingrid asked, knowing that the family lived on the outskirts of town with a rather large field behind their house, she could only imagine what some kids might have left there as a prank.

"Yes um, a tree came down the other day, an old one on the very edge of the woods and landed in the field. Sara and I promised to help Raymond with removing it." He excused before he took on of the grocery bags from Sara, "It was nice to see you Ingrid, have a nice day." He said before noticing that his 'daughter' was already halfway out the exit.

* * *

"Do you know what you were acting like in there?" Stein scolded Sara as they drove through town, her sitting in the passenger seat.

"What?" She asked, completely confused.

"In the store, I was trying to have a polite conversation and you were acting like a… like a teenager!" He exclaimed in what actually appeared to be true annoyance, "You were acting like a selfish teenager who couldn't wait to get home for absolutely no reason whatsoever!" He continued to reprimand but to his surprise Sara actually snorted out a laugh.

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your date," she joked but when she saw the expression on Stein's face her laughter died. "Oh my god," she said it with a sudden repulsion.

"Now Sara it's not-"

"You do remember you're married right?" She cut him off and he sighed,

"Before I left Clarissa and I may have gotten into a bit of an argument," he admitted, his voice very apprehensive.

"You're the one who told me not to get attached to Lindsay." Sara said, choosing not to force Stein to delve deeper into the obvious issues he and his wife have.

"You were leaving 1958," he said and he fully expected her to start yelling about how they're leaving 1986 eventually, but she didn't. Instead she just slumped down in her seat with her arms folded across her chest, allowing the rest of the car ride to be filled with a heavy silence.

* * *

"Did you get-?" Len didn't have the chance to finish his sentence; Sara stormed into the kitchen, placed her grocery bag on the counter, and stormed off. Presently it was himself and Kendra in the kitchen, Raymond and Rip were out at the Waverider, and Jax was still at work. "What happened to her?" He asked instead when Stein came into the room, looking just as confused as Kendra and himself.

"I don't know," he admitted, "Apparently it was my conversation with Ingrid but I can't for the life of me understand why." He continued; Sara and him both know that he isn't really her father so he couldn't understand why his interest in Ingrid had such an effect on her.

"What did you say to her?" Kendra asked,

"Nothing!" Stein defended, "She asked about the business and I gave a very vague answer as always, she mentioned something about Mr. Reynolds selling his shop and then Sara told me it was time to go." He explained and Kendra groaned.

"I'm sick of this," she muttered, "It's bee three months and still the most random things are setting her off." She continued,

"Someone should talk to her," Len suggested and Kendra nodded.

"I would but I fear that I am the one that she is upset with," Stein said,

"And I have to leave for work in a few minutes." Kendra excused, eyeing Len with a pleading look and reluctantly he sighed a long sigh before grabbing two beers from the fridge and heading out of the kitchen.

* * *

When he got upstairs he was surprised to find Sara's door open, and even more surprised to find her not there when he stepped inside. He almost turned around and left, when he noticed that her window was open and remembered that there was a bit of an overhang of roof outside her room. He crossed the room and looked out the window, unsurprised to find her sitting on the roof with her knees drawn to her chest and staring out at the field in the distance.

"Good thing the cloaking didn't break," He joked as he climbed through the window and offered her a beer.

"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?" She asked with a smirk but she accepted the bottle nonetheless.

"I'm not good at talking without a crutch," he told her honestly and she smirked as she uncapped her drink and took a swig.

"Me either," she admitted, "You here to tell me I'm acting like a baby?" She questioned but he shook his head and took a sip of his own drink.

"I'm here because I suggested someone talk to you and I'm the only one who couldn't find an excuse to get out of it." He explained, again his voice was honest.

"In that case let's not and say we did," She suggested but Len wouldn't let her off the hook so easily.

"Stein says you pulled him away from hitting on the cashier?" He asked, knowing full well that the Professor has a thing for the old woman.

"If he's not careful he'll get caught up here," she defended with another sip of her beer. When Len was silent she took it as a cue to keep going, "You know it's funny," she began, "The Waverider is busted pretty much beyond repair, and a part of me wants to keep reminding myself that we're never getting out of here. But it's been so long since I had roots anywhere that I keep asking myself, why the hell haven't I packed a bag and left yet?" When she looked over at Len he knew she was asking him for an answer, and she didn't expect him to have one. But he did, because ever since Mick she's become the person that he's closest to on the team, which is probably why she trusts him with this.

"The mission must have been perfect for you," he mused, "The team, the same people day in and day out, like some kind of makeshift family. But the places change all the time, only half a sense of permanence; I'll bet that's just what you needed." He continued and at first she appeared to be surprised by his observation before she looked down at her bottle and began absentmindedly stirring around the liquid inside.

"You'd win that bet," she finally admitted after a long beat of silence, "Traveling alone trying to figure everything out, it was too lonely. But staying in Star City…" she trailed off, looking for the right way to phrase it. "It was just too much," she eventually decided on and Len nodded.

"You want to know why you haven't run off yet?" He asked and for a moment she looked a little surprised, she hadn't actually expected him to come up with an answer. "It's because you're getting better," he told her, "You found the peace for your bloodlust in 1958, you have control of it, and so while your old instincts are telling you to run you're thinking that while you don't necessarily want to do it in 1986 putting down roots somewhere someday might not be the worst thing." He explained and her surprised face only grew before she replaced it with her mask of indifference by taking another sip of her beer.

"Leonard Snart has a soft side, who knew?" She mocked and he chuckled just a little.

* * *

"We got Gideon working again," Jax announced excitedly as he entered his and Len's room after another two and a half months of being stranded in 1986.

"That's great!" Sara congratulated from her seat on Snart's bed, looking up from her cards to talk to him.

Jax smiled at her, by now this room was as much hers as it was his. It had started that night a few months ago when Ray and Kendra were exceptionally loud during the night and so she slept in Snart's bed. He could never be sure of when exactly but something happened between the crook and the assassin after that day. She'd come in again a few nights later, saying that although they weren't being as loud she could still hear the upstairs neighbors and it was very unnerving to fall asleep to. It wasn't long before she stopped giving a reason every time she came crawling into Snart's bed in the middle of the night. Usually Jax would wake up upon hearing her enter and after confirming it was her he'd roll over and go right back to sleep. At some point he stopped waking up when she entered and wasn't even surprised when he'd wake up in the morning and find one more person in the room than there was when he went to sleep. As the weeks went on there were nights that she got dressed for bed but came strait to his and Snart's room to hang out and never left. If he was being honest, he liked her hanging out in there so much. They'd become better friends ever since she and Snart started… well whatever it is that they call it. If he didn't know better he would say they're dating but unfortunately he does know better. They give off that vibe you get in high school from the two of your friends who everyone knows should be a couple, and really the only reason they aren't is probably because they're having too much fun with the chase.

"Good job kid," Snart praised in a slightly distracted voice before her laid down his cards.

"Full house," he declared with a smirk and with a growl Sara handed him the five lollipops that had been lying next to her.

"Where'd you get lollipops?" Jax asked with sudden interest, his roommates (because at this point Sara pretty much shared that title) had stopped playing for money after one night when Sara kicked Len's ass three games in a row and so he resorted to betting the cookies that he hides in the storage bin under his bed.

"It was Ray's turn to go grocery shopping and he found a big bag on the clearance shelf," Sara explained and Snart held one out to him.

"Here, since you were busy when we stole them." He offered and Jax took the piece of candy.

"Thanks," he said before heading over to his side of the room to change into his pajamas.

Six months, four days, three hours, fifteen minutes, and twenty-two seconds. That's how long the team spent in 1986 before the Waverider was finally declared suitable to fly. They took one last day in the time period before they set off to say their goodbyes to any friends they'd made and leave their jobs for those of them who had ended up working (this was all to Rip's discontent of course but when his entire team refused to leave without saying goodbye he didn't have much of a choice). They left late at night, boarding the Waverider and despite all having ventured onto the ship numerous times in the past six months it still felt as surreal as it did the first time they ever set foot on the time ship.

"Alright, now if we're done I've been waiting six months to say this so strap yourselves in," Rip said in an uncharacteristically chipper voice but the team obeyed without protest and found their seats.

"You know I'm actually going to miss 1986," Kendra commented as she pulled down her restraints.

"Me too," Jax agreed

"Well fun as this has been we are going back a long time from now, Gideon was able to pull some files and locate Vandal Savage in 1803 so it's going to be a long jump." Rip announced as he set the course.

"Great," Sara moaned upon hearing that they'd be jumping back almost two hundred years.

"I don't know, I've kind of missed going blind every time we land." Ray said and although it was obvious that he was being sarcastic his bright smile took away from the effect.

"Well considering how far we're going you shouldn't be disappointed doctor Palmer," Rip said and with that he pulled the lever controls and they were off.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I had a lot of fun writing this two-parter but there are a lot of ideas that didn't make it in so although these two parts will stay here with the one shots I've decided to take this idea and turn it into a full length fic! Big thanks to starfire25 for the idea and for permission to go ahead with making it a full length fic, hopefully i'll have it up soon!**

 **BTW: Just a quick thing about Stein's wife, it kind of bothers me that he puts his superhero work before her all the time without any second thoughts and apparently in the comics it drove her into filing for divorce so that's why i said that they had a fight, because i honestly can't imagine that after all the times he's left her already i can't imagine she reacted well to the idea of him going on a mission through time.**


	8. Blame it on the Vodka (or not)

Normally they have a system.

Whenever the Waverider lands and the two rogues alone with Sara find that they all have some free time they find a bar, they have a few drinks, they start a fight, they get thrown out. That's usually how the three of them spend any shore leave but Len broke the tradition two days after they captured Mick and Sara had to haul his drunken ass out of the bar in the future. So now he's standing here in 1983, wondering just how bad he was and if he really deserves what she's about to put him through.

Mick's taken care of him when he's been hammered before and, according to the arsonist, he's kind of like a zombie. He has to be led around, he'll say a few things that he didn't necessarily mean to, but he's pretty quiet and not all that hard to babysit.

Sara, on the other hand, is looking to be another story.

He's seen her drunk before, and if he's honest with himself he finds it amusing how much drunk Sara resembles a bubbly teenager. But tonight she's far past the point of her usual drunkenness and is completely wasted. He didn't even want to know how many drinks she'd had, especially since she usually knows how to hold her liquor. All he wanted to know was how long it was going to take to get her back to the ship after this. For the most part he sat back and let her have her fun, slowly nursing his third beer by barely touching it once he realized that he'd lost track of how many shots she'd taken and that almost definitely meant he was going to be in charge of her tonight. He'd seen her in a dark corner earlier with a tall brunette in a red dress and he'd watched them go sneaking off into the ladies room with nothing more than a thought of how little he really wanted to be here. He was ready to go, there wasn't much for him in the bar tonight. But he waited until she came stumbling out, her steps more unsteady than before, and then given her at least another forty minutes before he went over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Snart!" She exclaimed upon seeing him, her voice much higher than it normally was.

"Time to go Lance," he informed her; she pouted like a five year old upon hearing those words.

"Aw come on, can't we stay a little longer?" She pleaded but he shook his head.

"Afraid not, now come on before Rip and the others get back from their mission and notice we're still out." He said and she giggled.

"They're gonna be ssooo jealous," she gloated like a little girl who had a better toy than her best friend.

Len just smirked before offering her his hand, seeing now that unless he literally pulled her away from the crowd this conversation could go on all night. She accepted his hand happily and let him lead her stumbling body through the crowd. It was only when they were clear of the dance floor and halfway to the door of the club that he glanced behind him at her feet and realized there was a reason aside from her drunkenness that she was stumbling so much.

"Why are your shoes on the wrong feet?" He deadpanned, freezing where they stood to allow her to glance down at her feet.

"Whoops," she giggled so it was with a very frustrated sigh that Snart lead her over to a vacant barstool and sat her on it; quite literally too since she didn't seem very capable of climbing onto the stool herself so he had to grab her waist, pick her up, and sit her down. "Thanks," she giggled, swinging her legs happily as he got down and grabbed hold of one ankle. Not that she even seemed to notice considering she just continued swinging the other leg, Len was careful not to get kicked in the face.

He removed her shoes and put them back on the proper feet before standing and helping her off the stool before continuing to lead her out of the building, she was still tripping over her own feet behind him but it was considerably less now.

But less is still annoying and with each step he took he could feel hers fumbling more and more behind him until he got fed up not even halfway back to the Waverider. At this rate they were going to spend all night walking and he didn't have the patience for that so he stopped and instead of leading her the rest of the way he bent down and picked her up over his shoulder. Of all the things he would've expected Sara to do in response to this, laughing out loud with an obvious joy was not on the list; just going to show how wasted she really is. He had no idea how in the hell she made it two streets from the bar in her heels, despite them now being on the right feet, but he chalked it up to assassin training. He smirked as that thought crossed his mind and the reality of the situation hit him; she was trained to be a stone cold killer but instead she's currently slung over the shoulder of a crook, laughing as if she realizes how funny it is.

* * *

When they returned to the Waverider Len found himself very thankful that the others weren't back yet; he could only imagine how they would react to him walking aboard with Sara over his shoulder and giggling like a schoolgirl.

"What's so funny back there?" He finally asked her as they entered the ship.

"I like being upside-down," she replied with a slurred voice, he just rolled his eyes and kept walking.

At the main entrance to the ship there are two doorways, one that leads to the upper level and one that leads to the lower. The upper level is where the barracks are, and that's where Len had every intention on going. But before he could even set foot on the first step Sara caught sight of the other doorway.

"I want to see Mick," she blurted out, knowing that the brig is on the lower level. Admittedly Len stopped where he stood, but only because he was caught off guard by the request and not because he was actually considering it.

"No," he told her in his usual monotone voice.

"Pleeaase," she whined, twisting her neck so that she could look at him. "He missed all the fun tonight, we can at least go see him." She begged and Len gave a sigh. Ordinarily he wouldn't give into her drunken request but the team had been trying to rehabilitate his former partner with no success, maybe the sight of Sara completely hammered would be unusual enough for the stone faced man to react to it.

"Fine," he huffed in agreement; Sara squealed with delight and briefly kicked her feet in excitement.

* * *

Let the record show that Len was right, this did garner a reaction from Mick. The man had sat in his cell completely emotionless throughout each attempt his former teammates made to reach him, in fact his feelings were so well masked that it scared Len. Mick had always been a man of feelings. When he was happy he grinned like a child who had stolen from the cookie jar. When he was sad he couldn't control the tears. When he was angry, well you had better not get in his way. But ever since the team brought him in, aside from one initial outburst, he'd sat through all their speeches about how much they wanted him back like he was totally disconnected from the world. But when his ex-partner entered the room with the resident assassin slung over his shoulder he arched a questioning eyebrow.

For a minute or two they just stared at each other, until finally Len had enough of the silence.

"Someone wanted to see you," he said in his usual, cold, voice. He then put Sara down and made sure she was steady before taking his hands off her hips and letting her drunkenly stumble over to the clear wall of Mick's cell, the stupid grin on her face being enough to confuse Mick and make Len chuckle.

"Hi Mick," she slurred before she walked right into the clear wall and nearly fell over backwards from the impact, she would've had Len not rushed to get behind her and catch her. "Sorry," she mumbled as Len steadied her from behind, this time not backing away all that far once she was standing on her own.

Mick barely flinched throughout the whole ordeal and only when the blonde looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something, did he let his eyes flick up to meet Len's.

"This is your plan?" He asked,

"Her plan," Snart confirmed, "I guess she felt bad you missed the fun tonight."

"When I get out of here, you'll see what my idea of fun is." He threatened and Len so badly wanted to make a snide comment, to remind Mick that HE was always the one organizing their prison escapes and that without him he can't get out of anything.

But he bit his tongue, and not just because he's sure that this new Mick could figure out an escape. Besides, that was when Sara started swaying on her feet more than she already was, her buzz from the alcohol starting to wear off and taking her adrenaline with it.

"Can't wait, but for right now I should get her to bed." He said and Mick scoffed,

"I should've seen it coming, back in 2046. I should've known you'd pick her over me." He said before Snart could lead Sara away, causing the cold man to glare at him.

"First of all I didn't pick Sara over you, I picked the chance to take down Savage over the chance to go back to robbing banks in 2016!" He was almost shouting as he finished, but Mick remained impassive.

"Come on Snart," he spat his name like it was a curse, "Do you really expect me to believe it was Rip you wanted to stop those guys from killing?" He asked but Len just held his steady gaze. "No; so when I get out of here I'm going to make you choose, Sara or Lisa." He threatened and if it's possible Snart's gaze actually hardened.

But he said nothing, because Mick is never going to get that chance, he'll make damn sure of it.

* * *

"Is Mick mad at me?" Sara questioned as she walked into her room as if she were sleep walking, Len trailing close behind her and trying to figure out how she hadn't twisted an ankle yet.

"Mick's mad at all of us," he replied bluntly, Sara turned around and looked up at him with unfocused eyes.

"I know, but is he extra mad at me?" She asked and Len couldn't help but chuckle.

"No he's not," he told her and just like earlier a smile and a giggle lit up her face. "What's so funny this time?" He asked out of pure curiosity, thinking that maybe she was realizing how ridiculous she sounds.

"You're cute when you smile," She said; ok, he hadn't been expecting that.

"Time for bed," he told her and her amusement only seemed to grow.

"But you are!" She laughed, stumbling backwards and onto her bed.

"So are you, now go to bed." He continued, acting like he hadn't just called her cute.

"I'm already in bed!" She exclaimed, "Besides I want to stay up." She said, playing with the hem of her shirt and sounding more like a toddler with each passing minute.

"Now why would you want to do that?" He asked her and of course she giggled before she answered.

"Because you only think I'm cute when I'm drunk," she told him, throwing her head back probably a little more carelessly than she meant to.

"That's not true," he said as he went and took a seat on the edge of her bed. "I'll only tell you when you're drunk because you'll kick my ass if I say anything when you're sober." He explained to her and she just stuck out her lip in a pout, he had to smile at that of course.

"No I won't," she promised, "I'll pretend to, I'll tell you I'm gonna, I'll put on a show. But I'll never really, really kick your ass." She slurred out before smiling a sweet smile that looked to be oddly out of place with where he knew she was going. "You see I'm afraid of love Leonard, I know I've had some fun since this whole…" she trailed off, clumsily gesturing to around her as if she were gesturing to the ship. "Mission started. But it's just been fun. I don't really love any of them," she said, drawling out the word love and leaning forward to pick at a very interesting piece of fuzz on her blanket.

"You're not in love Sara, you're drunk." He told her bluntly and she smirked,

"I know I'm not in love," she said before meeting his eyes, "But I'm falling," she continued and the honesty in her voice made Len's stomach drop, almost as much as jumping through time does.

"Come on, time for bed." He said when he gathered his wits, giving her a gentle pat on the knee as he stood up. She pouted for a minute, actually scratch pouted, she looked like she almost wanted to cry. "Sara," he said her name gently, reaching down and placing his hands on her shoulders, prompting her to look up and meet his gaze. "We'll continue this conversation tomorrow, I promise. But right now it's late and you need to get some sleep." He told her and she nodded, accepting of the answer.

"Ok," she agreed. Len then turned around and began rummaging through her drawers for her pajamas, already knowing that she isn't going to be able to change by herself.

He selected a gray pair of basketball shorts and a white t-shirt, things that will be easy to get her into. When he turned around it took almost everything in him to keep himself from laughing at the sight he was met with: Sara laying on her back as she tried to wrestle herself out of her shirt with very little success.

"Need a little help?" The sarcasm is beyond evident in his voice, even to her drunken mind. To her credit she does try for another minute before finally huffing out a sigh of defeat and collapsing her arms.

"Yes," he smirks when she admits it before he places the pajamas next to her and goes for her belt.

"Don't get any ideas," he warns her as he undoes the belt, he catches her smile but says nothing. When he discards the belt and starts to pull down her jeans, however, he only has them halfway down her thighs before he gives her a look of disappointment and sees that she's giggling with a knowing smile.

"Why aren't you wearing any underwear?" He asks in a deadpan voice but isn't sure if he really wants to know the answer.

"I was but I think I left it at the bar," she slurs out with a laugh before she starts cackling in amusement, Len just rolls his eyes.

After retrieving some new underwear for her he managed to get those and the shorts on her as well as the t-shirt. She tried unhooking her bra before he put the shirt on but he insisted that she let him handle it. Once she had the t-shirt on he unhooked her bra for her through the material and once she felt it fall from her body she pulled it off through her sleeve without having to be told, though she did almost get her hands tangled up in it afterwards. Once she was all set he tucked her into bed, pulling the blanket over her like he does every time she has a little too much to drink and he has to put her to bed.

"We're still gonna talk?" She asked him, looking up at him with big eyes.

"Of course," He assured her before adjusting her blankets one last time, "Goodnight," he said and with that he grabbed one of her hands in his and gently pressed a kiss to it before leaving her room.

"Night," she muttered once he was gone.

* * *

It was still fairly early in the morning, about eight or so, when Len got up and as he left his room he heard the sounds of someone getting sick coming from the bathroom. Knowing exactly who it was and why they were in there he couldn't help but sigh, he'd been hoping that he could avoid this.

"Just walk away," he muttered to himself, "Just go into the kitchen and get your coffee, don't turn around. Don't, ugh." He groaned as he went against his own words and made his way for the bathroom. "Sara?" He called, knocking on the door.

"Come-" her words were cut off by what sounded to be the contents of her stomach.

With a heavy sigh Len turned the doorknob and entered the bathroom to find Sara kneeling before the toilet, looking completely exhausted and miserable.

"Ohh, what did I do last night?" She groaned and Len couldn't help but smirk,

"Some brown haired girl," he replied with a chuckle and she forced herself to give him a small smile before another wave of nausea hit her and she stuck her head back in the toilet bowl.

Len watched for a minute as she emptied the contents of her stomach with her left hand gripping the side of the toilet and her right haphazardly holding back her hair until he took pity on her and went to help. He moved some of the hair that she had missed from her face and held it back gently until she was done and when he was sure she was he helped her to her feet.

"Come on," he said, pulling her along with him as he led her to the kitchen. She let him lead her, following him like a sleepwalker, which he determined is definitely preferable to dragging her along when she walks as if she has two left feet.

Once they made it to the kitchen he sat her down on one of the barstools, this time not literally as she was able to do it herself, and he gave her a bottle of water along with two aspirin pills.

"Thanks," she mumbled before taking the pills as he set to work on making the two of them some breakfast. She groaned upon hearing the sizzling sound of bacon hitting the hot pan.

"I know but the greasy food will have you feeling better," Len reminded her

"If I don't throw it up," she argued but didn't press the issue any further, "So seriously, what did I do last night?" She asked again.

"I already told you," Len replied, not looking up fro the pan.

"Len I haven't been this hung over since college, that can't be all I did." She said and so he turned around to face her, a thoughtful look on his face as he debated whether or not to tell her about what she had said when he was trying to get her to sleep.

"Well you paid Mick a visit, that was fun." He said sarcastically and she responded by burying her head within her arms and groaning. "Actually it was the most reaction we've been able to get out of him so far, I don't think he knew how to react to the sight of you completely wasted." He continued to muse and so now Sara lifted up her head with a small smile, imagining what Mick's face must have looked like.

"So you don't remember anything?" He asked her, crossing his arms with skepticism as a thoughtful look crossed her face.

"The last thing I remember clearly is taking my sixth or seventh shot, after that it's mostly a blur." She began, trying to piece together the bits from the previous night that she does remember. "I remember the girl, sort of, and…" she trailed off, her brow furrowed as a memory tried to sort itself out in her head. "What were we talking about last night?" She asked and she took note when Snart shifted awkwardly in his place. "I remember feeling nervous, which I almost never do when I'm drunk, then I remember you telling me we would talk in the morning?" She asked it more than stated, and Len briefly contemplated lying to her and telling her that the reason she was nervous was something along the lines of being drunkenly afraid of her own shadow, and that he told her they would talk about it later just to shut her up. But he wouldn't do that; he could tell last night that her words, liquor induced as they were, were coming from an honest place.

"You started talking about falling in love," he admitted and now it was her turn to shift awkwardly. As she took in the information he turned around and took the bacon out of the pan, setting it down on a paper towel and turning off the burner before turning to face her again.

"Falling in love… like it'd be nice if I could?" She asked as he leaned over the counter, looking her in the eyes.

"You said that you were," he practically heard the air catch in her throat when he said that, "But then again you were pretty hammered," he continued, he knew she caught the offer behind his words.

It was coming back to her now, little bits of it anyway. She knows that he could tell by her voice, by how she momentarily sobered up during that conversation, that it wasn't just the vodka talking. Whatever she told him had been real, and he knows it. But he was giving her a chance here, to deny it and say that she didn't mean a word of it. He'd know she'd be lying, but he would act like he didn't. They could move on with their lives as if she never said anything, and she was tempted to do just that. She never planned on letting onto her developing feelings for him, forget about flat out tell him.

"I'm not sure if falling in love was the right way to describe it," she finally murmured, too afraid to meet his eyes. She may have never had any intentions on ever telling him, but now that she apparently did she just has to know if they're mutual; something she doubts.

"Then what is the right way to describe it?" He asked, prompting her to look up and meet his gaze.

"You tell me," she challenged and with a smirk he backed off, turned and grabbed the paper towel with the bacon, and turned back and set the food between them.

"I'm not good with feelings," he answered her

"Neither am I," she replied, "Sometimes I wonder if I still have them." She mused,

"Same here," He admitted, "Ever since I iced my old man I've wondered if the reasons really matter, or if deep down I'm just as dark as he was." He confessed as the two of them began to pick at their breakfast, Sara eating less than what Len would've liked her to after last night but he didn't say anything.

"You're not," she finally assured him.

"I know, and you know you're still capable of feeling. Doesn't mean the doubt doesn't linger," he replied and she only nodded because she knows how true that is.

"So what?" She asked, "Do you want to pretend I didn't know what I was saying last night?" She asked, getting more back on the subject.

"Did you?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged,

"Like I said, falling in love might have been a little extreme and I never would've said anything sober, but doesn't mean I was lying." She answered,

"I never accused you of lying," he said, "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to take back what you said about not kicking my ass when you're sober." He explained and she smiled.

"I don't remember saying anything about that," she said and he smirked.

"You never mentioned who it is you're afraid you'll fall in love with," he said and she gave him a questioning look, one that asked how he knew it was fear that was holding her back. His rather curious face told her that she had probably said something along those lines last night.

"Well, despite my recent track record, it isn't a girl." She began, "It's this guy, and he's tall and he's sweet. He doesn't care about my past, he's got a bit of a thing for ice." He found himself laughing quietly at her joke and she laughed too, glad to see that he wasn't immediately rejecting her.

"So what do you want to do?" He finally asked her, if he's honest with himself he knows that he feels the same way about her. Calling it love right now might be a little premature, but he can't deny that there's something there.

"Your call," she answered him in a whisper so low that he barely heard her.

It was in that moment, as soon as the words left her lips; that Len felt something inside of him snap. Not in the bad way, but in the way where whatever snapped it releases a burst of courage. He felt it snap and the next thing he knew he was leaning just a little further over the counter to close the gap between them, lightly capturing Sara's lips with his. He was beyond relieved when he felt her kiss back, even though he could feel her holding back. That was ok though, because he was holding back too. This is new territory for both of them, entering something headfirst like this. Sara hasn't considered a real relationship since coming back to life and Leonard… well he's not sure he's ever been in a real relationship.

"Good call," she whispered with a smile once he pulled away and smiled back at her.

"We don't have to tell the team about this do we?" He asked but much to his relief Sara shook her head.

"No, they can figure it out for themselves." She said and he smirked in agreement before pushing his weight off the counter.

"Good, now eat your breakfast." He said in a more commanding voice and although she rolled her eyes she did in fact pick up another piece of bacon and start eating.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, first off i just want to say thanks for ally he great** **reviews, you're the best! Second, the first chapter of the full length fic based off the last two chapter of this is up! It's called "Cover Stories and Family Bonding" same title i used here so please check it out!**


	9. How NOT to Blow Up a Building

**So this was a request from TinkStar87, who wanted to see something that takes inspiration from the first episode where Mick and Len were hiding whatever it was that they stole in a diaper box, so yeah let's see how this goes**

* * *

"No,"

"Sara-"

"No,"

"But-"

"No,"

"If you would just-"

"I blame you for this," This time Sara's comment was directed at Leonard, the only other person currently in the bridge aside from the Captain she was currently arguing with.

"All I said was that no cop has ever searched me when I'm hiding whatever I stole in a diaper box, it was not my idea to strap a bomb to you." He replied coolly, they were currently in the temporal zone and would soon be heading to Liverpool in 1931 where an associate of Savage would be hosting a political gala tomorrow night and in the very building where the gala is set to be held there is a secret room in the basement that holds the records which Savage will soon use to put himself in a very powerful position. The room is so deep in the basement that if it were to explode the building above wouldn't be destroyed, just feel as though an earthquake hit.

"Well you can't very well walk into a high society gala with a box of diapers," Rip pointed out to Len before turning his attention back to Sara. "But this is 1931, they won't pat you down at security."

"I'm not worried about them knowing it's fake, because I'm not doing it." She said; walking away from the conversation but of course Rip followed her.

"Sara," He tried to be stern but it came out more as whiny, that being said she still turned on her heel back to him.

"There are very few things that I won't do," she began in an almost deadly voice, "So when I set a boundary I would appreciate it if you respect it." She said and with that she turned back around and left.

* * *

"No,"

Len rolled his eyes when he approached Sara's open door, where he found her sitting on her floor sharpening her knives, and without looking up she only had that one word to say to him.

"I'm not here to talk you into anything, especially something ridiculous as this. But I am curious as to why you were so quick to refuse this mission." He explained and she looked up at him, slightly annoyed, as she tried to think of a way to word this.

"Let's just say, I'm not comfortable with it." She finally said but she knew she wasn't getting off that easy, which was proven when he just came in and sat down in front of her.

"You're comfortable killing," he reminded her, a deadpan tone to his voice.

"Used to be comfortable killing," she corrected, "Besides that should only prove my point, Rip's talking about the exact opposite of killing, even if I'd only be faking it." She further explained, but he only smirked.

"Exactly," he said in a sly voice, leaning in close so that he was almost intruding in her personal space. "Look if it makes you feel any better I don't want to take this mission either, but you know it's too dangerous for Kendra to head into Savage's clutches without the means to kill him." He reminded her and if she didn't know any better she could've sworn she heard some hidden meaning in the undertone of his voice; like he wanted her to take this disguise just so she could see for herself where she stands in her redemption process.

Or maybe that was just her own thoughts.

"Ok," she finally agreed.

* * *

"Now the bomb is secure so it shouldn't go off prematurely, that being said try not to jostle it too much." Rip warned Sara as she stood on a platform in the fabrication room, her shirt rolled up to expose her stomach as Rip secured the bomb to her.

"Isn't that the whole point of this disguise?" She asked; her arms folded atop her head as she let Rip work. The bomb was hidden within a fake pregnancy belly and so the plan was for Sara and Leonard to sneak into the gala tonight as John and Claire Smythe, where after blending in Sara would sneak off to the basement, leave the bomb in the secret chamber, then return and they would leave

"Yes well, please don't take any chances." Rip replied and Sara couldn't help but smirk, although it was mostly at the sheer ridiculousness of this situation. "Ok, you should be all set." He continued after another minute or two and then stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Sara also looked down at herself, although it was mostly just to avoid making eye contact with Rip. The fake belly was secured tightly around her waist and was made of a thick, nylon like material. A second strap ran up her back and wrapped around just below her chest for good measure and overall the thing made her look roughly seven months pregnant.

"How are you going to get your shirt back down?" Len asked from his seat in the corner of the room, when he'd asked Sara WHY she dragged him in here for this she had simply smirked and said that technically he's supposed to be the pretend baby's father so it's only logical that he at least be there when she gets pregnant.

"I'm not," she replied, "Gideon will have our clothes done in ten minutes and I'll get changed right away." She explained; her dress was being made specifically to fit over her disguise.

"Which reminds me, what are you going to do when it's time to go and you have to walk back through the ballroom without… that?" He asked, gesturing vaguely to the fake belly strapped to her midsection. "Someone will notice,"

"I'm brining a coat and I'll shove it up my dress," she answered him, he took note that she seemed a lot more ok with this plan today than she did yesterday.

At this point Rip stepped out and left the two of them alone in the fabrication room, Sara testing out her ability to walk with the added weight and danger of blowing herself up with one wrong move.

"Pull your shirt down," Len finally said with a smirk, prompting Sara to take her eyes off her feet and look at him.

"Why?" She asked and he only shrugged,

"Humor me," she could tell that he would let her refuse, that he wouldn't keep pestering her. But at the same time he knew her dress would flow while her current tank top was skin tight but still stretchy enough to reach over her new belly. For whatever reason he wanted to see what she would really look like if she were pregnant and with her shirt up it looked too fake.

To be honest, she was a little curious herself. So she did as he asked and pulled the yellow material of her shirt down over her belly, having to unroll the fabric carefully. In the end it was just barely enough to cover her, which felt strange considering just a few minutes ago she had had an excess of fabric clinging to her hips. She was already facing Len and when she was done his expression didn't change, so she turned to the mirror. She was pleasantly surprised by the image staring back at her; she had thought the thing was actually going to make her look bigger than it turned out to. Of course this is only a fake belly, so her hips weren't widened the way she knew they would be if she were really pregnant, but it was still believable.

"What do you think?" Len's voice finally broke the silence and Sara turned back to him.

"I don't know, think it'll fool anyone?" She asked, trying to put her hands on her hips but quickly realizing how awkward that was now. Before Len could answer the sound of a glass shattering was heard and the two of them turned to the open doorway where they saw a very stunned looking Jax standing; eyes wide, mouth agape, and broken shards mixed with spilled soda at his feet.

"Guess that's a yes," Len answered, realizing they must have forgotten to fill Jax in on what exactly Sara's disguise was.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sara questioned Len just after the two had managed to get into the gala and he placed a hand gently, almost protectively if she didn't know better, over her falsely rounded stomach.

"One, blending in." He excused, voice smooth as velvet in her ear. "Two, making sure that thing is still off." He continued, the bomb was currently off and wouldn't be turned on until Sara planted it and started the timer. That being said it was still a good idea for Sara to be very careful and avoid crashing into anything.

"And how would you be able to tell?" She asked with a playful grin, one that made it look as though she were laughing at something he said.

"Call it a gift," Len smirked before beginning to lead her through the crowd.

They mingled around for about ten minutes or so before Sara left claiming that she was going to the bathroom. While she was gone Len hung casually around the bar, admittedly looking around to see if there was anything worth stealing. Once he determined that there wasn't (aside from the few wallets he had already swiped) he waited patiently for Sara to return. He wasn't sure how long this was supposed to take, though he was fairly certain it shouldn't be this long. Just when he was starting to grow concerned he saw her coming back, and when he spotted her and saw that she was still wearing her coat yet still looked pregnant, he knew something was wrong.

When she approached him he was about to ask, but she plastered that fake and sexy smile onto her face, pulling him gently down to her height so that she could whisper in his ear.

"There's a problem," her face was happy and flirty, but her voice shook with fear.

"What problem?" He asked quietly and so she responded by grabbing his hand and leading him away, not replying until they were safely through the door that lead to the basement.

"It's stuck," she finally told him as they headed down the stairs.

"What do you mean it's stuck?" He just had to ask, because how was it possible that Rip secured the bomb so well that the assassin couldn't get it off?

"I mean I can't get the bomb off!" Sara exclaimed just as the two of them made it into the secret room where Sara was supposed to leave the bomb.

"I got that," Len said with a deadpan glare, "I mean why can't you get it off?" He demanded as she began pulling up her dress, allowing him to see the damaged fasten on her back.

"That happened when I tried," she explained, trying to ignore the fact that she felt Len's eyes flicking back and forth between the clasps and staring at her exposed ass.

With a growl of frustration he began fiddling with the clasp, Sara moving one hand to hold the fake belly in place to prevent it from dropping to the ground should he actually manage to get it. He couldn't of course and he soon found himself growling even louder.

"Ok plan B, did you bring a knife?" He asked and Sara rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think I thought of giving myself a C-section?" She asked jokingly, now it was Len's turn to roll his eyes. "The wire runs through the straps, cut it and this thing goes off. Cut any piece of it by stabbing into the middle and it goes off. I also tried pulling it over my head and stepping out of it, it won't budge." She went through the list of all the ways out of this she had thought of before adding a muttered, "I knew this was a bad idea."

Len thought about this for a minute, processing the information and trying to think of another way. Then, when it finally dawned on him, he roamed over Sara's exposed legs for the item that he would've suspected she'd keep there.

"Where's the knife?" He finally asked; he expected her to repeat that cutting out the bomb was not an option but apparently she trusts him, because she simply rolled her dress a little higher until the bottom of her bra was exposed and he noticed the blade peeking out from the side.

"If you haven't noticed my hands are a little occupied," she snapped him out of his slight daze, giving him more or less unspoken permission to reach up and take the blade himself.

He ignored the fact that she could've moved her left hand, the one holding the fake belly carefully, for long enough to hand him the knife. Just like she ignored the slight shudder that ran up her spine when his gentle fingers brushed carefully against her ribcage. Once he had what he needed he moved and came to kneel in front of her, much to her confusion, especially when he took her left hand in his own and moved it off of the fake stomach.

"What-?"

"Trust me," he said it so earnestly, letting her know that he was fully aware that he couldn't remove the bomb from the front. With a gulp she nodded her silent agreement, and let him set to work.

For a brief moment he hesitated, knowing the consequences of one wrong move. But they needed to get this off her, so he began. He was careful with stabbing the knife into the nylon, using just enough force to cut into it. He then carefully began carving out a circle until he made it back around and could actually touch the bomb. He couldn't defuse it this way, not unless he wanted to risk blowing Sara up in the process. He looked up at her while his hand reached into his coat and he pulled out the cold gun, only then did Sara realize what he was doing.

* * *

"You ok?" Len asked Sara from her doorway later on that night. In the end, the mission had been a total bust. He froze the bomb which prevented it from detonating at all and therefor means they went in there for nothing, not to mention that his gun gave Sara an acute case of frostbite on her stomach. But she was mostly recovered from that and was now sitting on her bed reading a book.

"Yeah," she replied, setting down her book and meeting his eyes, prompting him to go in and take a seat next to her. "Thank you," she said and he smirked.

"I may not be a hero but I wouldn't leave you with a bomb strapped to your stomach," he said and she laughed just a little.

"For that too," she said, "But I meant for convincing me to take the mission." She continued, a thoughtful look on her face that warned Len not to say anything just yet. There were walls slowly coming down in her mind and if he interrupted they would not only shoot right back up but also be built higher. "I always wanted to have kids one day, but I gave that idea up when I was rescued by Ivo." She explained, she had mentioned before about the man who rescued her from the ocean. She had said that he was the start of her becoming a monster, despite how many times the team told her she was far from a monster. "I was so afraid that putting on that disguise would force me to think about it, what it would be like, and how I'll never be able to do it." She said and this time her eyes signaled that her walls were as down as they were coming for now and he could speak if he wanted to.

"Did it?" He asked and she smirked,

"Yeah," she confessed, the fact that she said it with a smile almost inspired one of Leonard's own. "Who knows, if I stay on this track, I just might make it there someday." She said and there was something written on her face that Len had never seen in her before: self-pride.

"Give me a call when that happens, I want to see what kind of torture a pregnant you inflicts on the poor sap who gets stuck with you." He joked and to his slight surprise she laughed, a certain air of agreement in her tone.

"You really are an ass," she told him bluntly so he smirked.

"I try," he said before getting to his feet, "See you later assassin." He said as he walked out of her room.

"Goodnight crook," she called and as he walked out of the room he couldn't help the thoughtful smile that crossed his face as he entertained the idea of having children one day for a the first time since he was a child himself.


	10. If I Ever Saw You Again

**This was a request from SLLS, who wanted to see some stuff between Sara and Len based on the Lazarus Pit and him losing his hand. Sorry it took so long, i was really stumped for awhile but the last episode gave me some inspiration!**

* * *

Mick was unconscious, Sara had just been disbanded from the league, and when they all turned to go Len attempted to carry his former partner; attempted.

"Oh my god," Sara practically gasped when she saw his hand, or lack thereof is probably a better term.

 _"How long has it been for him?"_ She briefly wondered to herself. She didn't think it could've been long, but then again from the fact that he hadn't come with the others could mean that he was lost for as long as they were. But she doubted that, considering it had been him to tell them who Chronos really is she would bet that just like Rip, Jax, and Stein it was only a mere few hours for him.

Still, his hand is gone.

She can't help but wonder how he lost it, or more specifically, if it was Mick who took it.

Jax and Ray went and took Mick from him and he looks frustrated by it but he doesn't insist that he can carry the much heavier man; he knows that he can't. Sara is fully aware that her expression is dazed as she approaches Leonard, but she can't shake it.

He's standing there, gripping the open and bloody stub that used to be his hand and gritting his teeth harshly from the pain.

"What?" He didn't mean to snarl at her, she can tell, but he can't help it. It's the pain talking, he just wants to get back to the ship and drug himself so high on painkillers that what's left of his wrist goes numb.

"Nothing," she eventually managed to say after standing there with her mouth open for a solid minute or so, and she only did so because she felt the presence of the man approaching them from behind. She turned, knowing that it was Ra's al Ghul standing behind them.

"Something tells me he is going to need his hand," he said and Sara's eyes grew wide when she realized where this conversation was about to head.

"No," she said, shaking her head before she turned to Len who honestly looked like he was about to pass out from the clearly recent pain of losing the limb. It made her chest ache, made her want to accept what she knew Ra's was offering, but she would never forgive herself if she did. "He'll manage," she said and before Len could argue she grabbed his good arm and began leading him away.

* * *

When she said he would be able to manage she hadn't thought that Gideon would be able to give him a new hand, so it goes without saying that she was beyond relieved when she watched it happen before her very eyes. Rip left the med bay with her right on his heels, Len still sitting in the chair and examining his new hand.

"Hold it assassin," he called out before she could get away, she was reluctant but she did in fact turn back.

"What?" She asked, folding her arms and watching as he curled his new fingers into a fist two or three times.

"Not that I'm ungrateful for futuristic technology, but next time that I'm doubled over in pain and one of your friends offers to help please ask for my opinion before telling him I'll manage." He said and she sighed before walking just a little closer to the chair, waiting patiently for him to look away from his hand and at her.

"Ra's was going to dunk your arm in the Lazarus Pit," she told him bluntly, "Once you go in that thing you don't come out the same. It doesn't matter if it's your whole body or not, that thing takes a piece of you and sorry Snart but I wasn't going to let that happen." She defended but he leveled a glare at her, unimpressed by the answer.

"What happens to me is not your decision, or your concern for that matter." He said it coldly, shifting in the chair so that his legs now dangled over the side, but despite his commanding voice she wouldn't back down.

"I've seen the inside of that pit," she growled at him, "It wasn't until just a few months ago that I stopped seeing it every night in my dreams. So sorry, not sorry." She bit out and with that she walked away.

* * *

They tried to forget the little disagreement, but when she found him down in the cargo bay during their next mission, practicing with his new hand by throwing a ball against a crate and catching it again, forgetting was no longer an option. She had come in here to talk to him about Mick, or more specifically to try and get him to talk to Mick, but he was refusing.

"Mick's made his feelings about me pretty clear," he was trying to weasel out of this, but he knew he would have no such luck.

"And what about your feelings?" She asked,

"About you?" He snapped too quickly, and when an amused smile spread across her face he almost thought she was going to let it slide. But when she heaved a sigh and crouched down to his level he knew he was far from being that lucky.

"I bet those are less than pleasant right now," she half joked, to her surprise and he only shrugged in response.

"Confusing mostly," he admitted, "I get why you didn't let me decide about the pit considering I was in too much pain to think strait, but before that you looked like someone had just stabbed you in the chest, why?" He asked and she smirked in amusement.

"Those two years, despite the fact that I was practically brainwashed during them," She began as she made herself more comfortable on the floor. "I was always thinking about what I would do if a I ever saw you again-"

"And the answer was try and kill us?" Len mocked and Sara smirked again.

"This was before Ra's' teachings got through to me, when he was telling me to let go of everything that tethered me to my past." She explained; her eyes now focused somewhere else as she lost herself in the memories. "Rip snapped me out of it by pitting me against Kendra but when I saw you missing your hand…" she trailed off, not quite sure how to explain the feeling. "All that time, I was wondering why you guys left us but when I saw what you were going through… I didn't know what to think." She finally admitted and if Len didn't know better he would've said that he saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes, actually no, he did see tears there. "I spent two years thinking that maybe you left us on purpose." She confessed, her voice just starting to shake.

Upon hearing this Len's expression softened and he crawled over to her from where he had been sitting. He went and sat next to her, and they were both silent for a long moment before he finally said what he crawled over here to say.

"This might not mean much coming from a guy who left his partner unconscious in the middle of nowhere, but if Rip ever tries to leave you stranded somewhere on purpose I'll ice him." He promised and Sara chuckled,

"Thanks," she said before getting back to her feet. "No stop being an ass, and go deal with Mick."

* * *

It was after Mick told them what the Time Masters had in store as their backup plan should he fail to bring the team in. He told them that all they can do is run and then slowly the group dispersed out of the bridge. All except for Len who remained seated in the corner, and Sara who approached him.

"What?" He asked her, his voice icy as always but not quite as hostile.

"You look like hell," she deadpanned,

"You would know," he deadpanned back, he didn't expect her to laugh at the joke but she did, although it was mostly just so he wouldn't stop her from taking the seat next to him.

"Think we can outrun whoever the Time Masters send after us next?" She asked after a moment or two of silence.

"Don't know," Len answered honestly, "What do you think?" He asked and in response Sara huffed out a long sigh accompanied by a shrug.

"Don't know," she agreed, "All I know is I just spent two years thinking about what I would do if I ever made it back here, then I got captured by Savage before I even tried." She said and that was enough to peak Len's curiosity.

"What are you going to do now that you're back?" He asked and Sara smiled just a little as she grabbed his hand, rubbing her thumb over his bruised knuckles a few times before reclaiming her hand and standing up.

"Come find me when your face heals," she said, a teasing glint in her eyes.

Len smiled to himself as she walked away, suddenly very anxious for his face to heal up.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I just want to thank everyone whose been leaving the great reviews, they mean so much to me! However i am putting the one-shots here on a bit of a hiatus, i don't have time to focus on two stories and i want to focus on my multi-chapter story "Cover Stories and Family Bonding". I have two more one-shots for this still in the works but i can't be sure when they'll be up. Because of this i'm not going to take requests for a little while :( i just don't have the time. I'll post another note like this when i have the to work on this series again, but until then it'll probably just be the two that i'm currently working on before the end of the month and then i don't know when the next update here will be :( Please check out my multi-chapter story, it's based on chapters six and seven of this and I'm really excited to do it!**


	11. Thank You for Saving Me

Snart didn't know how he would've expected Sara to react to the news, but he certainly didn't expect this. The news of her sister's death had just reached the Waverider and when it did everyone turned to Sara. She looked shocked; her mouth hanging open and body frozen.

"Sara," Rip had said to her, taking half a step forward until she held out an arm for him to stop.

"Stay away from me," She said it in a low and commanding voice, and then she was gone.

* * *

She disappeared from the bridge and shut herself in her room, no one had heard from her in hours. In fact no one heard much of anyone for hours. Ray and Kendra were the only other two to have known Laurel and they were being relatively quiet. Jax and Stein seemed to be busying themselves by going on with their own hobbies, Jax reading the ship's owners manual and Stein in his room working on a puzzle, both grieving the woman they had never known. Mick was down in the brig, by choice mind you; he said that he liked the silence of the room. Len had been down in the cargo bay, tinkering with his gun, when finally he'd had enough and went marching up to Rip's office.

"Did you know?" He asked from the doorway, prompting the Captain to glance up at him.

"What?" He asked; Len leveled a glared with him.

"Did. You. Know?" He demanded again, his voice actually colder than usual.

Rip's eyes flitted around, and he ran his tongue over his lips for a moment before answering Snart's question.

"No," he admitted, "I didn't do much research into any of your families records, but I am searching records on the defeat of Damian Darhk before…" He trailed off, seemingly not wanting to admit what he was looking for.

"Before what?" Len snapped and Rip sighed,

"Before I traveled back in time," he admitted, Len didn't say anything, but he understood. Rip knew Sara would need to know if she was supposed to be there that night, if she was suppose to stop it.

* * *

After that Len left Rip to his work and made his way to the barracks, stopping outside of Sara's door. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he really should do this or not. It wasn't a hard decision, and he soon found himself knocking on the cool metal of the door.

"Sara?" He called,

"It's open," he just barely heard her call back. With a sigh he pressed his hand to the button that allowed the door to slide open and once it did he saw a sight that nearly broke him.

Sara was lying on her bed, on her side with her back to him. Her body was perfectly still but he knew better than to think she was trying to sleep. She wasn't making a sound, so if she was crying it wasn't out loud. He didn't suspect she was crying though, it seemed that she was taking a break from that. He could tell easily, however, that she had been crying at one point. Her blonde hair was messy with static and her blankets were hanging carelessly halfway off her bed. As he walked deeper into the room he noticed a knife embedded in the metal wall, one he was sure had only come to rest there recently. For a moment it crossed his mind that having left a very emotional ex-assassin alone in a room with who knows how many weapons probably hadn't been the teams best idea. Oh well, live and learn.

He was silent as he approached her bed, wondering if she was going to roll over and tell him to get out.

She didn't.

She listened as his heavy footsteps grew progressively closer, she didn't flinch when he stopped right next to the bed or even when he lowered himself to the edge of the mattress and sat down. They both remained quiet for what felt like an eternity, each counting the seconds as they slowly ticked by.

"How do you feel?" Leonard finally broke the silence, and god Sara wished he hadn't.

She didn't want him to see her weak, but when he spoke he ripped her out of the numb haze of her mind and threw her back into reality.

Laurel's dead.

Her big sister, the one who always protected her, the one who brought HER back from the dead, is gone.

Slowly she felt her face pinch and turn red as she began to curl in on herself, breath hitching in her throat with a squeak as she tried to suppress the tears coming to cloud her eyes. What she didn't expect was what Snart did after he heard the sound, though she was beyond grateful for it. Gently, he slipped his hands under her arms and pulled her up into a sitting position while carefully maneuvering himself to sit behind her. He let her slump against him and kept one arm firmly around her as she brought her knees up and curled into a ball in his lap. Pressing her face and one hand again his chest she let out a loud sob and let the latest onslaught of tears begin. He wrapped his other arm around her while she sobbed, rubbing her back up and down in a soothing manner. He never told her to shush, never asked her to calm down, never told her that everything was going to be ok. He just never said anything, and for that she could only be grateful. He held her and let her fall apart in his arms, let her cry and scream into his chest. At some point she found herself gripping fistfuls of his shirt, and he didn't even flinch when she was sure she had clawed at his skin by mistake.

Eventually, as she calmed down and the sobs turned to hiccups, Sara somehow came to have wrapped her arms around Leonard's torso, hugging him firmly while his hand that wasn't resting securely on her back gently raked it's way through her now messy blonde hair. They stayed there like that for a long time, neither of them saying a word. If Sara was being honest with herself, she liked this. She had never had this, ever. Even when she was a kid and she was crying she cried alone. Her parents would leave her to her own devices and wait until she had cried herself out before one of them came in and said or did anything. She had been fine like that, grateful even. She liked being alone when at her worst because it meant that she didn't have to worry about what anyone thought. But this was nice, having someone hold her. Having Len here to tether her to the earth while she broke, and for him to simply allow her to spill the contents of her broken heart was an incredibly welcome feeling.

"Sara?" A gentle knock on the door and Kendra's voice broke the silence.

Len looked down at Sara in his arms, silently asking her if she wanted him to get the door and tell Kendra to leave her alone. But Sara shook her head and slowly pushed herself away from him. She got off the bed and with a deep breath began wiping away the tears still in her eyes as she approached the door. She hesitated only for a moment before opening the door.

"Hey," she said quietly,

"Hey," Kendra replied, almost equally as quiet. It was then that she looked past Sara and noticed Snart sitting on the bed. "Um, dinner's almost ready." She informed the blonde woman, unsure if she would be joining the rest of the team for dinner or not.

"Thanks," Sara said with a nod, with one last glance directed at Snart Kendra nodded and left them there.

"You can stay in here if you want," He told her, rising off the bed. He had heard it in her voice when she thanked Kendra, she was going to force herself to go down and sit with everyone else like everything was fine.

"I don't," she said sternly, turning around to face him. She didn't want to sit in here and cry; she wanted life to go on. She wanted to go sit at the table and listen to Ray and Stein argue over the laws of physics, she wanted to grow nauseous at the sight of Ray and Kendra holding hands under the table. She wanted to watch Rip get on Mick's case for his lack of table manners and Mick respond by either putting his feet up on the table or burping in the Captain's face, at which point the rest of the team would intervene and tell them both to stop aggravating each other. She wanted to feel some semblance of normalcy, like her entire world hadn't just come crashing down around her.

Len nodded, understanding that she didn't want him to argue.

"I'll meet you there," he said, pushing past her and leaving before she would argue, not that she would. Neither of them wanted to say it but she was going to need a few minutes alone before she came out in order to put her emotionless mask back on.

* * *

When Len arrived to the ship's kitchen for supper everyone, who was either moving around the kitchen or sitting somewhere, looked up to see if he had Sara with him.

"Don't do that when she comes in," he warned, "I don't think Sara exactly wants to be reminded right now that we all feel bad for her." He continued,

"Mr. Snart has a point, in the face of grief we should all try and act natural." Stein agreed and Len rolled his eyes at the notion.

"This should go over well," he muttered, wondering why he even opened his mouth to begin with.

But he would just have to trust that the Waverider crew could actually act natural, or that Sara won't have the energy to care when they can't. The second one was easily the more viable option, and when Sara entered and they still on some degree all stared at her it became the one that they went with. She ignored them for the most part, just glanced around for a brief moment before claiming her usual seat at the counter.

After that dinner went almost as normal, the usual threats and arguments were still thrown around, but there was no denying the numb sadness that was undercutting the whole meal. Mick was the first to leave, all that time at the vanishing point must have given him some sensitivity, because he could tell Sara wanted to go but didn't want to be the first. Kendra and Ray walked out not long after him; Sara followed them.

Len waited for Jax and Stein to be gone, which didn't take too long considering unlike the old man Jax can take a hint. He dragged his partner out of there with some excuse about needing his help with their splicer or something; Len didn't pay much attention to the made up reason.

"So how's it look?" He asked Rip, his voice nonchalant.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Snart, I checked into the timeline of what happened that night before I recruited Sara but the Canary still died. Some things are just meant to happen." He explained and Len sighed; admittedly disappointed by the news but nowhere near as much as Sara will be.

He almost believed it too, almost walked away, but then the exact words Rip had used processed.

"Which Canary?" He asked, not looking at the captain, not able too.

"What?"

"Which Canary?" He demanded again, this time turning his head and looking Rip dead in the eye. The faltering gaze of the other man was all he needed to confirm his suspicion, no matter how much he wished it could've disproved it. "We need to tell her," he said it simply, as if doing so didn't feel like driving a knife through his heart.

"She'll want to go back," Rip warned, "She will want to save her sister, and she will be willing to die in order to do it."

"I know," Len's voice was quieter than he had wanted it to be, but if Rip noticed he didn't let on. "But that's not our decision to make," his voice was stronger this time, more commanding. "So here's what's going to happen; I'm going to calmly explain to Sara that her sister can be saved, BUT that it most likely means someone else will die in her place. If she asks I'll tell her there's a good chance it could be her. If she decides she wants to risk it and go back then that's exactly what we're going to do, if not then we'll go along with the mission and make sure we make it back for her sister's funeral." He said, not leaving much room for the captain to argue, if he left any that is. He then walked out of the kitchen and began heading back towards the barracks, hoping desperately that Sara won't decide to go back even though he knows better.

* * *

She decided to go back, of course, Len knew that she would. Rip had his rules for the sudden mission, that in order to avoid messing with time any more than they already are by coming back the team was to wait until all of Team Arrow was inside the prison before they made themselves known.

"Damian Darhk isn't entirely unlike Vandal Savage," Rip began, giving the team a quick run down of the plan. "Whereas Savage is immortal, Darhk has spent much of his life practicing sorcery and it has not only prolonged his life but has also made him very powerful. Waiting until the last minute to get in there will not only give you all the best chance of walking away unharmed but will also mean Darhk might not sense you until it's too late." He explained, "Now obviously we are here to save Laurel Lance, that being said if you can manage to get your hands on Darhk's idol we might be able to take him down once and for all which I think goes without saying will avoid many casualties in the future." He continued,

"Not that I'm against preventing future casualties but, what ever happened to your policy of leaving well enough alone?" Stein questioned, recalling how it was very recently that he was fighting Rip tooth and nail to give the tuberculosis medicine to a very ill boy in the old west.

"I suppose you all are starting to rub off on me," Rip replied, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

* * *

When the team arrived at the prison the alarms were already going off and police cars were already pulling up.

"How are we supposed to get in without all those cops stopping us?" Jax questioned,

"Snart and I have busted out of more than enough prisons with more than enough guards, we can bust into one just fine. Not to mention that Sara here is an assassin, the rest of you can fly so as long as someone carries Rip we'll be fine." Mick said, the others looked at him for a brief second, still getting used to this more plan making version of Mick as opposed to the man who had enjoyed setting things on fire just for the hell of it (which he still does but not as frequently).

"Ok, so if I take Rip-"

"Actually I think you should stay out here as lookout," Rip cut Kendra off, causing her to glare at him in surprise. "It's nothing personal but Darhk gains power from stealing the life force from those who he kills, and god forbid something happen to any of us in there we'd be in deep trouble if he murdered the one with 207 life forces store up." He defended and Kendra had to accept that.

"Would that work as a way of defeating Savage?" Len inquired, it might make Darhk more powerful but it also might work to their advantage, assuming they could ever trick Darhk and Savage into fighting each other.

"Hey guys, things are getting pretty heated down there with the cops." Jax interrupted the conversation, drawing the attention of the rest of the group to an argument that was ensuing between a cop and a civilian just as the civilian punched the cop and knocked him out.

"Ouch," Len commented,

"It's a distraction for Oliver," Sara seemed very sure of the statement.

"How can you be sure?" Ray asked,

"Because I can't think of another reason my dad would knock that guy out," She replied,

"Your father's being restrained," Len pointed out but Sara just nodded.

"He'll be fine," she said.

* * *

"Are we too late?" Ray questioned once all of them, minus Kendra, made it into the prison and they found a trail of bodies leading down the corridor.

Before anyone could answer him the sound of fighting from far down the corridor caught their attention.  
"This way," Sara all but growled, she was gone before Rip could tell her to be careful.

The sound of fighting had stopped before Sara reached it and so now she was running without being sure of where she was going. She vaguely was aware of the sound of at least one of her teammates far behind her, but she wasn't paying that any attention. All she was focused on was getting to Laurel. She couldn't be too late; she wouldn't let that happen. As if as answering her prayers she heard the voice that she knew just had to belong to Damian Darhk coming from a doorway at the bottom of a staircase that she was fast approaching. She all but threw herself down the stairs at the sound of it, nearly jumping every single step; she had to make it.

"I want you to tell him-" she cut Darhk off, launching the sharp end of her Bo Staff expertly into the man's side and he fell over from the impact, effectively releasing her friends from the magical hold he had on them.

"Sara?" Laurel asked in shock when she saw her sister standing in the side doorway of the room.

"Look out!" Sara screamed in response, Laurel spun around just in time to block an attack from Malcolm and his sword.

A fight quickly ensued between who remained of Darhk's men and the combined Arrow and Legends team, the latter of whom had finally caught up to Sara. During the chaos of which Andy Diggle made a play for the idol, only to be stopped by an unfamiliar man with a gun capable of shooting ice.

"I don't know who you are," he drawled before freezing Andy's hands, "But I'm sure I don't want you to have this." He finished, taking the idol from the other man. "We've got what we came fo-" Len was cut off, but not by words. He was cut off by the searing pain of a sword stabbing through his back and coming out the other side.

"LEONARD!" Sara screamed; her voice filled with an emotion that she didn't even know she still had in her after the pit. As the sword pulled out Snart fell to his knees, revealing it was Malcolm standing behind him.

Malcolm grabbed the idol as Snart dropped it and ran out of there with Andy not far behind him, but no one bothered to follow. By now Snart had flopped onto his side and Sara was hitting her knees beside him, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that were beginning to pour out her eyes.

Just as Sara hit the floor Ray approached with Mick and the two quickly loaded Snart into Ray's arms, he didn't have to tell the others where they were going, they all knew.

* * *

"So this is your time machine?" Laurel asked, strolling into the med bay of the Waverider. Sara hadn't stuck around after the fight, in fact when they all headed out of the prison she took off sprinting the first chance she got, leaving her remaining teammates to explain to Team Arrow what had just happened.

For the most part it was all so surreal to Laurel, she was supposed to have died tonight. It truly could've been her last mission. But it wasn't, her sister had made sure of that.

But at what cost?

One of the Legends had been stabbed in her place, and according to Rip Hunter it was worse than the stab she was intended to take. He was here in their med bay, just barely alive thanks to the futuristic technology but even with that it was still a gamble on whether he'd survive or not. According to the ship's AI, which had initially freaked John out, if Snart made it through the night then they could expect him to recover. Sara was by his side, holding his hand; she didn't even look up at her sister's words.

"Rip says you're going to be staying for a few days, while he recovers." She said; Sara still didn't look up from the thumb she was brushing over his knuckles.

"It was supposed to be me," the younger blonde finally said, this had Laurel confused.

"Sara, your team told me-" Finally Sara turned in her seat, looking up at her big sister with serious eyes.

"It was supposed to be me," she said again, "Originally. But then Rip decided to take down Savage and recruited me months before tonight ever happened, taking me out of the equation." She explained; Laurel took a minute to process the new information.

"So without you there…"

"It fell to you," Sara confirmed,

"When you came back…" Laurel trailed off; she was about one word away from accusing her sister of having a death wish.

"I was prepared to," she confirmed, "I knew it would probably end that way, but I guess I just hoped that maybe no one would have to die tonight." She said, looking back at Len with more sorrow than Laurel had ever seen on her sister's face; and that's saying something.

"No one did," she said in her strict tone

"Not yet," Sara argued so Laurel did the only thing she saw she could at this point; she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Sara.

"Who is he?" She asked after a moment of silence between the two.

"Leonard Snart," Sara replied with a heavy sigh.

"No, I mean who is he to you?" She specified; Sara fell quiet again, as if she were thinking over the answer. When she didn't answer and Laurel realized that she probably wasn't going to she decided that now would probably be a good time to go bail their father out of his holding cell. "Well whoever he is, tell him I said thank you." She said as she stood up, Sara just smirked.

"Rip tell you it was him who talked him into coming back?" She asked, Laurel hoped the surprise didn't show on her face because no, Rip hadn't told her that it was Leonard Snart who had talked him into coming back to save her.

"No," she said, bending down and giving Sara a sisterly kiss to the forehead. "Tell him thank you for saving my baby sister," she said, her hand lingering on Sara's cheek for a brief moment as she smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen that sparkle in your eyes."

* * *

Len groaned as the pain started to register with him. His eyelids were heavy but he forced them open anyway.

 _"Hurts too much to be dead,"_ he mentally observed and put that down as a plus, or at least not a total negative.

With his eyes now open Len took note that he was in the med bay of the Waverider. He also took note of the feeling of a heavy weight on his chest. When he glanced down he expected to see, well honestly he had no idea what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn't the sight of Sara Lance with her arms folded on top of his chest and her head resting in them while she slept. She looked so peaceful, despite the fact that he couldn't see her face. He didn't want to wake her, but that didn't matter, because she woke anyway.

She raised her head slowly, her eyes blinking away sleep and a bleary smile spread across her face as she woke up.

"Thank god," she said under her breath, Len smirked.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy Canary," He quipped, slightly surprised by how croaky his voice sounded.

Sara heard it too and seemed just as taken back, she started to push out of her chair to get up, presumably to get him some water, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"Later," he said, ignoring how his arm felt heavy as pure lead when he moved it.

With a nod Sara sat back down and he coughed in order to get as much strength as he could back to his voice by doing so. When he released her wrist he didn't take his hand back, she didn't give him the chance too. Instead she took it in both of hers and began playing absently with his fingers.

"How long-"

"Three days," she answered before he could finish the question, "almost four." She continued, "We're still in Star City 2016, Jax and Stein left yesterday with Mick on field trip to Central City. They need to explain to Jax's mom where he's been." She explained and despite the searing pain in his side Len had to snicker upon hearing that.

"I bet that'll go over well," he said and Sara laughed,

"Mick's bringing Lisa back," she informed him, "to see you," she continued, Len nodded.

"Last respects?" He asked and she huffed a laugh,

"You've been getting better, Gideon said you should be able to leave the med bay about two days after waking up. He just thought you'd like to see her," she explained and he nodded in acceptance of the answer.

"I suppose he conveniently left out the part where she'll kick my ass for letting myself get stabbed?" He asked with sarcasm, causing them both to laugh.

"Laurel says thank you," She informed him,

"What for?" He asked, "You stabbed Darhk, who I'm assuming is just fine if he's anything like Savage." He pointed out and Sara nodded.

"Both true," she admitted, "She meant for saving me," she said it somberly, and he knew how she meant it.

"I was watching you, you weren't anywhere near-"

"Snart." She cut him off sternly; she knew he understood that isn't how he saved her. He let out a sigh at the confirmation that this conversation couldn't be avoided. He also reclaimed his hand from her grip, but only so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders and gently guide her back to her resting place on his chest. She followed his lead without a word, and for a long while there wasn't a word spoken between the two. For a while they were content to just lie there, Len running his hand through Sara's hair while she played with a loose thread on the hem of his shirt. He briefly considered asking who had changed his shirt, knowing the loose t-shirt was not what he had been wearing last, but he decided against it. He knew it had probably been Mick anyway.

"Three days, you've seen much of your family?" He finally inquired but she shook her head against him.

"I've been here," she admitted, "They stopped by a few times, my dad and Mick dragged me out of here the other day and so I went to lunch with my dad, but that's it." She confessed.

Len quirked an eyebrow at this, knowing that if Mick was involved with dragging her out then she meant she had literally been hauled out kicking and screaming. Briefly the question of why flitted across his mind but it was pointless, he knew the answer. He knew that if their roles were reversed Mick would've had to knock him out to get him to leave for five minutes; he just couldn't believe she seemed to feel the same.

"So how bad did we screw the timeline?" He finally asked, it was a way to change the topic and frankly he really wanted to know.

"Don't know," Sara replied with a shrug, "But supposedly Darhk and Savage have been tracked to being in the same building in 2018." She continued, turning to look at him as he rolled his eyes.

"So, bad?" He groaned, knowing the answer.

"Looks like it," she replied with a hint of a smile, he gave a sigh.

"It was worth it," he said and she nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured, her mouth still hidden behind her arm.

"You already said that," he said, with a smile she slowly sat up strait in her seat.

"That was from my sister," she reminded, leaning closer to his face. "This is from me," she said, but she didn't do anything; so he did.

Cupping her cheek with one hand he pulled her down closer to him and captured her lips with his. She went willingly, kissing him back passionately enough to emit a small moan from him.

"Was that the pain talking?" She whispered, as they broke apart for air.

"No," he replied

"Just checking," she said with a small smile before kissing him again. He pulled her closer to him, taking his other hand and letting it rest on her hip. In return she placed both her hands on the sides of his face, deepening the kiss. It wasn't long before they reached that point where they were either going to have to stop or Sara would end up on the bed, and much to Len's distain she chose to pull away.

"You're a tease Canary," he all but pouted, their foreheads still pressed together.

"Not usually," she promised, "But you have been in a coma for three days thanks to an injury that should've killed you, would've if we didn't have Gideon." She reminded him.

"I see, so how long until you'll let me have fun?" He asked and Sara chuckled, he reveled in the feeling of her hot breath hitting his face. "As soon as Gideon clears you for missions I'll take you off probation," she promised him.

"How long will that be?" He asked, not entirely sure he wanted the answer and for more reasons than one.

"Only about a month," Sara guessed, Len hummed in thought.

"I can live with that," he decided before briefly capturing Sara's lips one last time. "But only if you don't get on my case about doing that," he bargained and she smiled.

"Deal," she agreed before kissing him again.

Considering Darhk and Savage were now a team two years into the future this could arguably be viewed as the teams biggest blunder yet. But if you ask, they'll say it was the best call they ever made.


	12. Looking Out for Him

Let the record show that when Snart showed up and proposed they let their fists do the talking, Mick had every intention set on killing him. He'd spent the equivalent to thousands of years at the vanishing point, driven by the thirst for revenge on the brother who betrayed him. The knowledge that while he was in the brig of that other spaceship with the time pirates, Snart had been on the brink of death and thinking of him, hardly made a difference. That day, or night, or whatever the hell it was, had been lifetimes ago. It didn't matter to him that Snart had come close to dying; in fact the only thing that bothers him about it is that the miserable bastard did in fact survive.

He knew he could beat Snart in a fistfight, and he had been certain that he could kill him.

But then the fists started flying.

He punched the man who knocked him over the head and dragged him out of Star City 2046, the man who chose a team of strangers over his supposed best friend. He hit the man who came down into the brig and knocked him out again before waking him up in a forest in the middle of nowhere, who left him in that forest to rot. The man who left him to fend for himself on small animals because there wasn't a single sign of human life anywhere near that forest, he pounded on him until the man couldn't fight back anymore.

But then he knocked the man down and raised his fist high above his head, every intention on finishing it and finally fulfilling his life's mission.

But the man was gone.

Snart was lying below him; eyes half lidded as his vision blurred and blood outlining his nostrils, but he wasn't that traitor of a man anymore. When Mick looked down at Snart to finish what he had his black hole of a heart set on finishing he didn't know what exactly he had expected to see in his former partner's face, but it sure as hell hadn't been the image of a fourteen-year-old boy in way over his head.

He had him pinned against the floor

 _They had him pinned against the wall_

The damn traitor

 _The new kid_

He'd tried to fight but he couldn't win

 _They'd overpowered him in ten seconds flat_

He was waiting for the final blow from his old friend

 _He saw the shiv and glanced around at every possible exit, there was none._

With a sigh Mick lowered his fist

 _Abruptly, Mick stood up_

"We had a deal Mick, kill me and you walk."

 _"Let the punk go." He ordered in a commanding tone to the boys who were about to carve the newest inmate._

 _"What?" The leader of the three who had grabbed the fresh meat asked, though his boys did ease their grips on the kid's arms._

"Everything you wanted,"

 _He walked over to the leader of the gang, slowly, menacingly. "Let him go," he growled right in his face; they dropped the kid._

"I don't know what I want anymore," He admitted, and that was when he found himself spilling his guts to Snart about the Time Masters' backup plan, and soon he was repeating the same speech to the rest of the team.

* * *

"I thought I could do it," He admitted hours later when Sara walked by his open door. It was still very surreal to him; being back in his room on the Waverider. It looked exactly like he had left it; dirty laundry littered the floor along with more than a few lighters, his favorite of which was lying on his bedside table. The blankets were either crumpled at the end of the bed or just kicked off it completely, and a box of useless things he had stolen was placed on top of the desk.

Sara backtracked, coming to stand in his doorway and wonder how long he'd been sitting in his chair in the middle of the room waiting for her to walk by.

"I thought I could kill him," he confessed, Sara just crossed her arms and studied him for a good long minute.

"Why didn't you?" She finally asked, she knew the reason of course but it was obvious that he still needed to say it, and he wasn't going to unless someone prompted him.

"After I saved his ass in Juvie he followed me around like a shadow," he began his tale, "I didn't mind much because he was a smart kid, didn't know how to fight but knew how to come up with a plan. Came up with the entire scheme first time we broke out." He reminisced, noticing that Sara wasn't even bothering to hide the small smile on her face. "Once we were out we went our separate ways. It was only a few months before I ended up back in Juvie, and just a few months after that they dropped that same scrawny punk in, this time he had a few new scars." He told the story as if he was lost in the memory, and despite the questions she had about the scars Sara didn't ask, not yet anyway.

"We busted out again and kept in touch afterward that time, I've by far made more prison trips than him but that's only because I was always stupid enough to get caught." Right there, Sara saw it, right there was where memory lane ended and her opening into the conversation began.

"Bet you wouldn't get caught now," she mused, her arms folding comfortably over her middle.  
"You got that right," Mick smirked before his slight smile fell, "How long have I been gone? To you?" He asked her, at the vanishing point time doesn't move, or at least it feels like it doesn't. It exists in a fixed point in time, frozen forever in the last millisecond of eternity. But time moves all around it, so for him thousands of years had passed, but for his team it didn't seem like it had been very long.

Sara let out a sigh as she slowly made her way into the room, walking as if she were thinking over each step she took, until she made it to his bed.

"When you stole the Waverider you left Ray, Kendra, and I in 1958, then found us again at Nanda Parbat in 1960." She reminded without looking at him and he nodded, an almost guilty expression crossing his face.

"Right," he muttered,

"So it's different," she told him, "For us, you were gone two years. For Leonard and the others… about a week." She replied with a shrug. "What about for you?" She asked and he sighed again.

"Let's just say that when it comes to lifetimes, I might be on par with Kendra by now." He replied and she did nothing but nod in acceptance of the answer.

After that they were quiet for a little while longer, just letting the minutes tick by in a sort of comfortable silence.

"So when did he become Leonard?" Mick finally asked; Sara looked at him with a quizzical face.

"What?" She finally asked; Mick chuckled.

"I'm not as thick as I used to be Lance, and even if I was it wouldn't matter, I saw it then too." He said and Sara wanted to ask what he was talking about, but he started explaining when he saw her curiosity hadn't yet gone away. "Back in 2046, when he dragged me away from that gang, he said he was doing it because Wilson was hunting our friends. But do you really think he was willing to cross me over saving Rip?" The question was rhetorical so Sara didn't answer, but Mick still waited a minute before continuing. "He won't admit it, back then I didn't want to either, but he cares about you Sara." He said and Sara avoided his gaze, keeping her mouth clamped shut. "When you came to the brig earlier you called him Leonard, and I know how rare that name is. He's Snart, Cold, occasionally Len, but it's been a long time since I heard someone say Leonard." He continued but Sara only continued to stare at her feet, despite the fact that she was sure Mick was waiting for an answer. "Well," he finally said as he stood from his chair, briefly clasping her on the shoulder once he was on his feet. She looked up when he did this, and found him looking down at her with a blank face that she was sure had a ghost of pride hidden somewhere within. "Good to know someone's got his back when I'm not around," He said this and headed for the door, "No matter how stubborn you both are," he called the last bit over his shoulder and left Sara where she sat on the edge of his bed to think about what he had just said.

* * *

Once he left his room Mick found himself wandering the Waverider, and it wasn't long before he found his old partner holed up in his own room with an ice pack pressed to his face.

For a moment Mick just stood in the doorway, he hadn't actually seen this room since he moved out. He and Len had shared it but after the incident in 2046 he had moved out and into Carter's old room. Looking at this room now was proof that it had only been a few days for Len, as Mick's bed and the few pieces of garbage he'd left behind were still there.

"Here to kill me Mick?" Len finally drawled, getting the attention of his visitor.

"Already tried that," The other man mused, leaning up against the doorway. "Your girlfriend tells me it's only been a week to you, since you left me to die." He continued and at this Len set his ice pack aside and looked up.

"I think your confused Mick," he said, "I haven't had a girlfriend in a long time." He continued and Mick actually laughed at the notion.

"Yeah, maybe that's why you're dragging your feet." He said with a smirk, only laughing more when he caught the glare that Len had aimed at him.

"I ain't big on pep talks, and I'm still kind of pissed at you." He began, taking a little more joy in how completely annoyed and uncomfortable Len looked already. "But if you're going make a move on Sara, make it before the time masters find us. Cause after that… well… there won't BE an after that." He advised and with that said he walked away.

Once he was gone Len went back to sitting in silence on his mattress, ice pack now forgotten. He briefly entertained the idea of making a move on Sara, and then decided that he's had enough fists meet his face for one day. So he instead decided to take a nap, trying and failing to convince himself that Mick got the wrong idea.


	13. Still Here

**Author's Note: This chapter is a sequel to "The Girl in the Mask"**

* * *

They had been in the temporal zone when something crashed into the Waverider. At first the team had, understandably, thought they were being attacked. But then something flew by the window only to do so again a few seconds later. That was when Rip realized it wasn't an attacker that had hit them, but rather an out of control jump ship. He assumed some poor, lost, idiotic, time master recruit, was piloting and unless they helped him the poor sap would likely never find his way home. Of course there was risk in that, the recruit could easily turn them over to the Time Master's upon being returned to his own time. But he had damaged their navigation systems so it's not like they could go anywhere before making repairs, and if they didn't pull the moron's ship onto their own who knows how much damage he might do.

So that's what they did, and the entire team gathered in the cargo bay once it was done so that they could see exactly what it was they were dealing with. But the moment they got there Rip knew this was going to be a decision he would quickly regret.

He recognized that jump ship, he knew exactly what ship it had come from. What confused him was that no person who had ever piloted it, to his knowledge, had ever reported crashing into the Waverider in the temporal zone. He was hoping that maybe perhaps a past pilot had simply left that detail out of the report, but when the hatch to the ship opened his heart sank; he had no such luck.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." He said when he saw the occupants emerge from the small ship; he should've known this would happen. There were three passengers, all of them about the age of sixteen. There were two girls and one boy; and none of them had any business being here.

Sara and Leonard exchanged worried glances when the three teenagers came climbing out of their jump ship. They had met these teenagers before when previously hiding out in 2033 Keystone City. They wouldn't be so worried if it were only Don and Dawn West-Allen that had come out of the ship, but it wasn't. It was the two of them and Don's girlfriend, Aurora Snart.

"What," Rip began sternly, eyeing the three teenagers before him, "Are the three of you doing here?" He demanded,

"Wait, you know them?" Jax questioned; in hindsight Rip probably should've acted as though he didn't.

"More or less," he replied, not once taking his gaze off the teens.

"It was my fault," One of the girl's, the one with tan colored skin that matched that of the boy's, spoke up guiltily. "We kind of stole your time radar and-"

"You what?!" Rip demanded

"So you do know them?" Stein asked; the entire team knew that if Rip could avoid it he wouldn't tell them who these kids are so they needed to make sure that he couldn't avoid it.

Rip looked back at Martin, cast a quick glance at the resident crook and assassin, and then looked around the rest of his team who were all fixing him with hard glares.

"It is for the best that-"

"We already know," It was Snart's voice the interrupted Rip and directed the attention of the rest of the team, plus their three guests, over to him. "You can spare us your lies Rip, we already know." He continued,

"You… how?!" The captain demanded exasperatedly, Len smirked at his reaction while Sara was watching the exchange with interest.

"When we hid out in Keystone in 2033, you didn't really expect me not to check out the next town over, did you?" He questioned and Rip looked like he was mentally debating between chewing out Snart for disobeying orders, or chewing out himself for actually thinking his entire team had followed the rules they set on visiting the future.

"Who knows what? What's going on?" Ray questioned and Rip sighed before turning back to the three teenagers, who all looked like they wanted to disappear at this point. But he decided to ignore both them and Ray and instead turned back to Leonard.

"Do you realize what you could've done timeline?" He demanded,

"She's still here isn't she?" He asked; Rip went silent.

Maybe it was the way he said it, or maybe it was even just that he said it at all, but he it dawned only then on Sara that he's right. Aurora is still here; a little older since they last saw her and that only proves that their knowledge of her existences didn't change anything. She will still be born, Sara Lance and Leonard Snart will still have a baby together, and somehow the idea didn't completely terrify her in this moment.

"Seriously, what is going on?" Kendra finally demanded and Snart looked to Sara as if to ask if she wanted to tell them, her eyes confirmed that she had no qualms about it.

"When we hid out in Keystone, Canary and I took a little detour to Central," He began before pointing to each of the kids one by one. "Don Allen, Dawn Allen." Nobody missed the roll of his eyes at the similar names, "Aurora Snart," he concluded, now everyone was looking with wide eyes between the blonde teenager and their ice-cold teammate.

"Whose-?"

"Take one look at her and see if you can guess," Sara cut Jax off, and now that the others were all looking to her and it finally clicked.

"And here I thought I didn't miss anything good," Mick laughed before leaving the cargo bay, the rest of the team just stood there in stunned silence.

"Back to the matter at hand," Rip said awkwardly, turning back to the three teenagers who all looked to be conveying varying degrees of guilt. "The three of you stole my temporal radar?" He demanded,

"Technically we stole it from your future self," Aurora attempted but Rip only hardened his gaze.

"So your daughter's a criminal? Big surprise," Ray commented, which turned out to be a very bad idea.

Len didn't even think about it, actually scratch that, he thought it through completely but would deny such a fact later on. Palmer called his kid a criminal. Doesn't matter if he was suggesting she takes after him or even if he could turn out to be right, no one calls his kid a criminal. So he envisioned it in his mind before following through with the very carefully thought out action of turning on his heel and ramming his fist hard into Raymond's left eye.

Everyone turned to stare at him as Ray stumbled back, and although it went mostly unnoticed Sara's hands flew to cover her mouth, because she knew why he had done that.

"Ok, enough!" Rip finally shouted, "Kendra, take Dr. Palmer to the med bay. Mr. Jackson and Professor Stein go… go see about repairs, and you three get in the jump ship that you also stole and go home!" He ordered the teens who had caused all this to begin with.

"Sure, teach us how to drive it." Aurora bargained with a smirk that she so clearly had inherited from her father.

Now obviously Rip could tell that there is a very good reason none of the three knows how to drive the jump ship, and he intended to keep it that way.

"New plan, we'll drop you off where you came from." He decided before turning to Sara and Snart, the only other two left in the cargo bay at this point. "Until then you're in charge of them," He instructed and they both looked like they wanted to argue but also knew that doing so would be futile; one of the kids is theirs after all.

"So…" Len drawled once Rip was gone, leaving him and Sara alone in the cargo bay with their future daughter and her friends. "You three stole a temporal radar, and a jump ship." He stated before deciding to focus solely on his daughter. "What do I usually do in a situation like this Rory?" He asked of her, "And don't lie to me just to get out of trouble." He warned and she chuckled nervously.

"Kind of depends," she admitted, "Usually you punish me but when it's Rip you'll sometimes just act like you're mad until he leaves and then you give me a high five." She told him and he had to chuckle at that, it certainly sounds like something he would do.

"How about you guys just tell us why you stole the radar and jump ship in the first place?" Sara suggested, she could tell that Snart wanted to let the three off the hook as much as she did; but Rip would obviously notice them wandering around on their own and probably throw an even bigger fit. So if they're all stuck together in here they may as well get some answers.

At the question, the twins looked to the ground guiltily while Rory looked at them sympathetically before turning her attention to the past versions of her parents.

"We were using the scanner to look for signs of their dad," she admitted, sparking both Sara and Len's interests. "We took one of Rip's old scanners and for the last few months we've been trying to find their dad with it. It picked up a signal in the temporal zone so we hijacked the jump ship and came looking, unfortunately none of us know how to drive it and it's harder than video games." She admitted; upon hearing the explanation Sara got up and headed for the damaged jump ship, wanting to take a look at where the kids had been going.

"Guys," she said sadly once she got her look, the three turned and she frowned. "This is the coordinates of the Waverider, you tracked us." She announced and simultaneously all three teens sighed.

"We're also not great at reading the scanner," Don confessed.

* * *

"Are we seriously just ignoring the fact that in the future Sara and Snart have a kid together?" Jax questioned as he and Stein worked on repairs to the navigation systems while Mick sat nearby.

"You two are surprised that they hooked up?" Mick asked but the looks he got in response were all the confirmation he needed. "I just can't believe they named her after a Disney princess," he muttered.

"I once had a colleague named Aurora," Stein began, "We always shortened her name to Rory." Mick started choking on the water he was drinking, serves him right for not helping with repairs.

"Yeah, that sounds more like the two of them," Jax said as he finished with the last of what he was doing and the navigation came back online, with an announcement fro Gideon of course.

"Excellent, now we'll head to 2034 and-"Rip began, coming from his office when he was abruptly cut off.

"Change of plans," Snart said as he came into the bridge, alone. "Gideon," he called, ignoring Rip's stuttering protests.

"Yes Mr. Snart?" The AI chirped in reply.

"Remember when I asked you to keep a watch out for Barry Allen?" He asked, now the others were looking at him in surprise.

"Yes," Gideon replied,

"Any luck?" He questioned, completely ignoring the stares of the others.

"I'm afraid I have not been able to locate Mr. Allen in any time that does not match up with his own timeline." Len cursed under his breath at Gideon's reply, not that he hadn't been expecting it.

From what he gathered in the cargo bay, Aurora and the Allen kid's are pretty smart but Rip had shielded them from his future tech every time he's visited throughout their lives. Apparently they stole the scanner on his last visit and the jump ship wasn't so much stolen as it was damaged. From what they said Rip would be having issues with it at some point and bring it to Jax in 2034 to fix, where the kids would steal it before the time master could come back for it. They thought they had picked up a trace of Allen; but thanks to Rip being so careful to keep future tech away from them they had no idea what they were looking at or even looking for on the scanner. Basically they went after the first thing that showed up; they're lucky it ended up being the Waverider.

"Why did you ask Gideon to look out for that kid?" Mick questioned and his partner sighed, clearly not wanting to go through this right now.

"According to those three he disappears into the time stream in 2024, leaving them without their father." He admitted and a heavy silence descended upon the room.

"Why do you care?" Mick finally asked, "We hate that kid," he reminded his partner and something in Snart's eyes seemed to agree with that, but there was something else that didn't.

"Maybe, but as much as I hate him I'll admit that he'll make a halfway decent father someday, his kids don't deserve to have him disappear forever." He said and while Mick thought that over Jax looked over to Rip.

"Why don't we just go to 2024 and stop Barry from disappearing to begin with?" He asked,

"We can't," Rip admitted,

"Why not?" Stein questioned seriously, Barry Allen is a good man and a friend of his, not to mention that without him it's likely that he and Ronald never would've gained control over their powers and would still be wandering around under a bridge as a crazy hermit.

"Because…" Rip sighed; the entire timeline was truly going to implode one of these days. "Because you can't come in contact with your past selves," he said, "I've heard about the battle that goes on between The Flash and The Reverse Flash that night in 2024; and all of you are present." He explained, "So the best we can do is keep a watch out for the Barry Allen that will disappear that night, and until then those children HAVE to go home." He continued before turning on his heel and looking Snart in the eye. "Where are they?" He questioned,

"Still with Sara in the cargo bay."

* * *

Sara was watching from the corner of the cargo bay; Dawn had taken the news of the scanner not picking up what they thought it did the hardest. Her brother was currently trying to comfort her, though it was painfully obvious that the news came at a stab to his heart too. Rory had tried to help but it looked like she had basically given up and was now sitting not far from Sara along the back wall.

"Come on," Sara said to her future daughter, "Let's give them a minute," she instructed, cocking her head towards the door. Rory nodded and followed her out of the cargo bay, not that they went more than a few steps down the hall.

For a moment the two of them just stood there in silence. Rory very interested in the ground while Sara looked her over. Of course she had committed Rory's appearance to memory back in 2033, but it had been a year for the girl and a few things had changed. Her hair was a bit longer, and some of her freckles had faded, but she was still very clearly the daughter of Sara Lance and Leonard Snart.

"So," Sara finally began, "You steal my Bo Staff too?" She asked, remembering how the last time she saw Rory it had been her weapon she was fighting with.

"No," Rory laughed, "You gave it to me when I started protecting Central City, by that time it's your old weapon." She explained and Sara nodded, "Thanks, by the way."

"I'm not the one you need to be thanking for that staff," Sara began but she stopped when her future daughter began laughing.

"Not that," she insisted, "I wasn't a planned kid, you found out about me and could've stopped me from ever existing but like dad said, I'm still here." She said and Sara smirked as she took half a step closer to Rory.

"Don't thank me yet, or your father for that matter." She warned, somewhat surprised that it didn't faze her too much when she verbally referred to Snart as the father of her future child. "Things can still go wrong, and I still doubt you're going to exactly be a planned kid." She reached out a hand and touched Rory's cheek, which seemed to be taking the girl by surprise. "But you are a pretty great kid," she said and Rory laughed, not yet pulling out of Sara's touch.

"You say that now but once you get to know me you'll take it back." She warned and Sara laughed,

"I'll take my chances," she assured before she gave her daughter a light kiss on the forehead.

* * *

It was hours later, after they made their quick stop in 2034 and Rip returned the three teenagers home (after which he came back to the ship grumbling about the future versions of Len and Mick having laughed in his face), that Sara opened the door to Len's room and found him inside.

"I think it's time we picked up that conversation," she said, letting herself in.

"I thought the agreement was we would pick it up in three years, unless we were forced to sooner?" He half asked, half stated. He knew she was right of course, but he isn't good with feelings and so avoiding them is his default defense mechanism.

"You don't think Rory showing back up is force enough?" Sara asked, coming and sitting next to him on the bed; not that he looked up from his work on his cold gun.

"It's not exactly what I had in mind," He drawled, Sara didn't need to ask what he thought would be the force behind this conversation.

"Well you said it yourself, she's still here." She said and Len hummed in thought before finally turning his attention off of his gun and over to Sara.

"Do you want her?" He asked; she scoffed.

"What kind of a question is that?" She asked,

"A straightforward one," He replied and so she locked eyes with him.

"Yes," she admitted.

Len looked back at his gun, the gears turning in his head as he processed the information from Sara.

"But not like this," she continued and that got him to look at her. "I want her, but I don't want her to exist solely because we know she will and so we decide to let her." She continued and he nodded before discarding his gun completely.

"Well first things first," he began, "First we finish the mission." He said and Sara nodded her agreement.

"And then?" She asked and he sighed.

"And then we see where we are," he decided and she nodded, she then moved to get up from the bed but he grabbed her hand and gently halted her. "I hope you're right," he told her; she furrowed her brow in confusion so he figured he had better explain. "When you said that maybe Rory doesn't only exist because you and I got board one night and hooked up for the fun of it, that maybe be the end of this you and I…" He trailed off, but only for a moment before Sara was leaning closer to him and capturing his lips with her own.

It was a short, and mostly one-sided kiss thanks to his surprise. She pulled away, and he pulled her back. This second kiss was hot and passionate; something neither of them had felt very recently.

"So do we have a deal?" He asked her, as they pulled apart for the second time. "No worrying about whether or not Rory comes along, we'll just do what we want to do for now?" He asked and Sara nodded in agreement.

"Deal," she said and kissed him again.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So the hiatus is not over, i just needed a break from the multi chapter story and this idea had been in my head for** **awhile, hope you all liked it!**


	14. Come Back to Me

Once they got back to the ship Sara, much like everyone else, moved about her business in a numb haze. At first they were all on the bridge, trying to bring themselves to talk about what had happened. She thought that she could sit there; they were calling him a hero after all. But as soon as she wiped away the first of her tears it became very obvious that she couldn't listen to it. So she became the first to leave, excusing herself and trying to ignore the pitiful stares from the others. They knew what Leonard had meant to her, or they thought they did anyway.

He had been her best friend, the others could all see that and she would admit it. But it wasn't until now, that he's dead for crying out loud, that she was able to see how much more there had been to their relationship.

As she walked down the corridor to the barracks thoughts of him clouded her mind, and thus tears did the same to her vision. Her mind was filled with memories of him. From the first time they met and he tried to turn his back on the world, when she raised an eyebrow at him actually having shown up, when he spent the first five minutes of the mission staring at her ass so she thought she had him all figured out. She thought about Russia and how he talked her out of killing the Professor, about how they had nearly frozen to death beside each other. She remembered all of the card games they played in their downtime, remembered sitting at his feet while passing the bottle from Rip's special reserve back and forth, and she remembered him pulling his gun on her this morning. She knew he wouldn't shoot her, and now she was willing to admit that it wasn't only because they were teammates.

 _"This isn't Bonnie and Clyde,"_ She had said, and it wasn't, but they had at least gotten to go out together so she was starting to wish it were.

At this point she had made it to her room and her face was red and pinched tight with all the effort it was taking her to hold back her tears. She closed her door and all but ran over to her bed, flopping down and curling into a fetal position as she let out a strangled sob.

It was all crashing over her, feelings that she didn't even know she had until now that it's too late.

Typical.

In all her time, in all the things that she's done, Sara Lance didn't think that she had any emotions left to discover; but she was wrong. She had never before felt what she was feeling right now, the closest had been after she said goodbye to Nyssa. But even that wasn't this. That was knowing that what the two of them had was over. Their lives were moving in two separate directions. She had to keep moving if she wanted to find herself and Nyssa needed to stay where she was, even if that place was the league's prison. She would get out; Sara knew that much, and she would do so of her own accord. But this was a feeling of regret; regret of never knowing what could've been between her and Leonard. For weeks now she had been telling herself that she doesn't have any feelings towards the great Captain of Cold, but now she's realizing that those feelings she supposedly doesn't have are not only very real, but also much stronger than she thought. She could admit to having had a crush on Leonard, because crushes are things that you get over in a week's time. But now that he's gone and she knows that she missed such a huge chance, especially after he suggested the idea of them being together, she could go as far as to wonder if these feelings were feelings of love.

She had only ever been in love once before, with Nyssa. The heartache that followed their goodbye was awful, but this was just pure torture and coming from someone who has actually been both subjected to and administered pure torture that is saying something. She didn't think that she had loved Leonard, but now that he's gone, it was hitting her like a sack of bricks. Just then a knock came at her door and so, letting one last sob escape her control, Sara heaved herself to a sitting position and wiped away her tears.

"Come in," she said, her voice almost strong as usual.

It was Mick who walked in, a rather somber and shaken look on his face. Suddenly Sara felt that she had no right to cry, Leonard had been Mick's partner. They'd known each other since childhood, had each others backs practically their whole lives, who is she to mourn the man so heavily when it's Mick who deserves that right?

The former bounty hunter made his way into her room slowly with a thoughtful expression on his face. When he finally reached her bed he looked down at her and Sara suddenly felt as though she were a small child about to be scolded by her father, but that isn't what happened.

"Here," he finally said, placing something into the palm of her hand. Sara looked at it to see that it was Leonard's ring, the one that he had stolen on his first job with Mick. "He'd want you to have this," Mick said as she felt the ring's bumpy surface before looking back up at him.

"No," she said, she tried to hand it back but Mick only responded by backing up half a step. "He'd want you to have it," she assured him but he merely shook his head.

"When we first pulled that job, and got away with nothing but that, he still had some hope for his future." The larger man began to explain as he came and took a seat beside her on the bed. "Said that someday he'd meet a nice girl, and he'd give that to her." He continued, "Look at the inside."

Sara was confused by the instructions, but obeyed them nonetheless. When she looked at the inner band of the ring her jaw fell open ever so slightly; because there engraved on the metal, sloppily so Leonard had obviously done it himself, was her name.

"Found him doing that after we brought Savage on board," Mick exclaimed, "Said that one way or another this mission was coming to an end, and he still had a mission from when he was fifteen left to complete." Then Mick did the last thing Sara ever would've expected him to do in this situation, he laughed. "You know Sara, you're always so focused on controlling your bloodlust and calling yourself a monster, that you don't even see what you've done to him." He said and when Sara looked nothing but confused he decided that he had better elaborate. "That light you put in his eyes, that will to help people; I thought they beat it out of him in the prison yard." He explained and Sara quietly thought it over for a minute or two, before slipping the ring onto her pinky finger and realizing that it was much too big. So she tried it on her ring finger, and it fit there perfectly.

* * *

"Weird being back here?" Mick asked one of his best friend's, she was sitting on a metal chair in the med bay while his other best friend lay unconscious in the bizarre medical chair/bed.

Sara, who was holding Leonard's hand, looked over her shoulder and smirked at him. A lot had changed for all of them in the year and a half that had passed since they took down the time masters. Rip, being unable to return to his family, had opted to remain at the vanishing point and rebuild the time masters as what they were truly meant to be; guardians of time. He passed operation of the Waverider to those of his crew who would be willing to take on a new assignment; time masters. Mick had stayed and so had Carter, Jax, and Stein. Ray, Kendra, and Sara considered the offer but Ray and Kendra ultimately decided that they wanted to return to 2016 and start their life together, because after all the insanity Kendra did in fact choose Ray. Sara on the other hand almost took the offer, but something about it just seemed wrong. Mick understood it best; while he and Snart had been partners most of their lives the Waverider had changed their dynamic. It wasn't just the two of them anymore; they were teammates and best friends, but not partners. He understood that if anyone was Snart's partner after all this it was Sara, despite her trying to tell him otherwise. But she couldn't argue it whole-heartedly, because she felt that it was right. She couldn't take the mission without having Len there to watch her back. So she returned to 2016 Star City, but agreed to be on call anytime the Waverider crew needed some extra muscle.

That was the call she had been expecting; when she woke up at three in the morning and saw Mick's caller I.D. lighting up her phone. She had been expecting him to say that a job was about to go south and they needed the White Canary, not that they had been flying through the temporal zone when they found Leonard Snart's body floating amongst a whole bunch of debris that had been blasted into the zone by the explosion over a year ago, or that Len had a pulse. Mick told her where they'd landed in her time, and she'd wasted no time getting there. She'd thrown on a sweatshirt, not even bothered with her shoes, and ran out of her apartment.

"I've been back here before," She replied, not once letting go of Leonard's hand.

"Not lately," Mick said as he pulled up another chair and sat down beside her.

"You haven't needed me," she reminded him; he knows that he can call her at any time with any mission and she'll come. Besides, she's a fully-fledged member of team Arrow now so it's not like she's sitting at home doing nothing.

Mick smirked; then he noticed her ring finger.

"Do you sleep with that thing on?" He asked; she was still wearing Snart's ring.

"Sleep, fight, the only thing I take it off for is showering or washing dishes." She told him and he just smiled at her, or more specifically her loyalty to Snart. "He'll probably want this back." She said, unclasping her other hand from Len's and beginning to tug off the ring. But Mick stopped her by placing his hand gently over hers.

"Let him decide that," he said and then, as if on cue, Len finally started to stir.

Mick saw this and got up, Sara looked back at him but he was already out of the room, and when she looked back at Len she saw his piercing blue eyes staring back at her.

"Hey," She said, a big smile breaking out across her face.

"How long?" He asked, getting the feeling that he hadn't been asleep for only a short while.

"A year and six months," Sara replied, her face falling a little bit as he sighed and took in the news. "We did it," she told him, reclaiming one of his hands with one of hers and moving her thumb in soothing circles around it. "We took down Savage, and the time masters; all thanks to you." She said and he snickered,

"If any of you called me a hero-"

"We all did," she cut him off,

"Of course you did," he said just as he spotted the ring on her finger, his ring.

"You have small hands if that fits your ring finger," he observed and out of habit she looked down at it.

"Maybe you just have big hands," she quipped and again he smirked, god she's missed that smirk. "Do you want it back?" She questioned but he merely shook his head.

"Keep it," he insisted, "When can I leave the med bay?"

"You were cleared to leave the med bay upon waking, Mr. Snart." Gideon's voiced chimed from the ceiling, Len let out a sigh as Sara released his hand and he hopped off the chair.

"Thank you Gideon," He said gratefully.

* * *

He spent the rest of the afternoon, after reuniting with Mick, Carter, both halves of Firestorm, and meeting some new recruits, with Sara in his old room of the ship.

"I'm surprised nobody gave away my room to one of Mick's recruits," he remarked as he noticed the room looked more or less the way he had left it, only a few things being out of place here and there.

"He was saving it for last," Sara explained as they sat down side by side on his bed.

"So, you're back in Star City." It was more of a statement than a question, but Sara nodded as an answer regardless.

"Mick will take you back on the team if you want," she offered him and he did appear to consider the option, but when he met her gaze she knew it wasn't for that purpose.

"I know it was a long time ago for you, but I still mean what I said." He confessed, "I am curious about what the future holds for you and me, together." He said and despite the fact that she already knew all this, and that she returned the feelings, Sara was still a little taken back by his words. "Now call me crazy but considering you're still wearing that ring on your finger, something tells me you might at least be willing to find out." He wagered and the next thing Sara knew she was crashing her lips to his, him kissing her back passionately as though he was aware of just how long she had been waiting to be able to do this again.

"Can I take that as a yes?" He questioned when they finally pulled apart for air, their foreheads resting against one another.

"Depends, what exactly did you have in mind?" Sara asked; she found herself reveling in the warm feeling of his breath on her face as he chuckled at the question.

"Last time I saw Star City it was ruled by Wilson, I think I owe it a fair chance." Her lips were back on his half a second later.


	15. The Original Timeline

This was so not going according to plan.

Andy had played them, something Oliver had seen coming a mile away and a battle both Lance sisters had maybe not so wisely stayed out of. Maybe if even one of them had taken a side this wouldn't be happening. Maybe Darhk wouldn't be in possession of nearly full power, maybe he wouldn't have them all frozen thanks to his magic, and maybe he wouldn't be explaining how he had promised Quentin Lance that if he betrayed HIVE his daughters would pay the price for it.

"Nine months ago I made your daddy a promise," he said just as Oliver regained enough freedom to fire an arrow, but Darhk stopped it as if it were nothing.

"Impressive," he admitted, twirling the arrow casually in his hand. "Now where was I?" He asked rhetorically, "I want you girls to give your father a message." He instructed as he made his way for Laurel.

"No," Sara gasped, she was trying desperately with everything in her to break free of Darhk's hold but it wasn't working. So she watched helplessly as Darhk stabbed her sister with one of Ollie's arrows. "NO!" She cried out and as she did Darhk turned to her with a maniacal grin.

"Don't worry Sara, I haven't forgotten about you." He promised and as he spoke the last word through gritted teeth he jammed the arrow into her, before releasing his hold on them all and exiting the room.

Oliver rushed for Laurel, and John rushed for Sara. But it was clear that Laurel was the worse off of the two by a long shot and with Thea still unconscious in the back corner Sara insisted that John get her out, and that she would make it out.

"Sara-" Dig tried to argue.

"Get Thea!" She practically roared the order again as she clamored to her feet, "My dad will find me, I'll be ok until then." She promised and maybe it was the strength of her voice that reassured him or just the commanding look in her eye, but he nodded and followed Oliver out of the prison with Thea safely in his arms.

With her friend's gone and getting the two now weakest members of the team to safety, Sara began to limp her way out of the building whilst clutching her viciously bleeding side. It stung and hurt like hell, which she would know, and the farther she walked the less confident she became that her father or another police officer would find her before she bled out. Then, as if to make matters worse, she had somehow forgotten that the prison was in the middle of a riot during all this.

Leonard Snart, while he usually knows everything about everyone, had no idea what in the hell was going on here. All he knew was that it had only been a mere two days ago that he was dragged back into his usual cell in Iron Heights because of his latest robbery (that's the last time he puts Mick on lookout) and now there was a freaking riot going on.

The strange part was that this wasn't your typical prison riot. No this was planned and it clearly was planned well because people were actually busting out. Not wanting to miss out on all the fun Len and Mick added this trip to their list of shortest prison stays ever and were shoving themselves through the mob of prisoners trying to make it to the outside. They were in the dead center of the crowd when Len found himself tripping over something and landing on his knees, and when he turned to get up and punch the lowlife who tripped him in the face he stopped cold, no pun intended.

He had tripped over a woman.

Now that fact was odd in itself because the woman's section of the prison was far on the other side of the building. But what was even stranger was that she was dressed head to toe in white leather as opposed to a prison uniform. It was this fact that made him realize that she wasn't a prisoner; she was one of those vigilantes. He also noticed that every time she tried to push herself to her feet someone would come along and accidently step on and/or kick her back down. Studying her even closer, and getting stepped on a few times himself in the process, he noticed the growing red stain on her side obscuring her white clothes.

She had been stabbed.

She had been stabbed, she was bleeding out, and now she was being trampled to death.

With his mind made up Len grabbed her and hauled her up along with him, picking her up bridal style and instead of attempting to get through the crowd with her he stepped into the nearest open and empty cell, lying her down on the bottom bunk of the metal bed.

Once she was out of his arms she began coughing, her entire body writhing as blood forced it's way up her throat and out her mouth while she fought to take in some air. Len paid almost no mind to this however. Instead he ripped the sheets off of the top bunk and wadded them up, pressing them firmly to the woman's side in order to try and keep pressure on her wound.

"Don't…bother," she coughed out the words that sounded grabbled through all the blood that forced it's way out with them.

"You're not dead yet," Leonard remarked, he didn't look up but he was fairly certain she had rolled her eyes at him.

Then, suddenly, she started coughing harder. Her entire body was now seizing as though she were trying to sit up, and after a few seconds Leonard realized that she was. He had stupidly laid her on her back and so now that more blood was coming up her throat she was choking on it. He quickly fixed his mistake by moving to sit behind her on the bed; still not removing his hand from her injured side, and placed her head in his lap as so to elevate it.

"Calm down, you're going to be just fine." He said to her in a voice that he hoped sounded reassuring to her, but then again reassuring isn't exactly his thing.

"Not," She managed to cough out and Len sighed, well there goes all hope of that.

It should also be noted that her white outfit included a matching eye mask, which with shaking hands she reached up and removed just as her coughing began to cease. This act revealed to Leonard that her pale face, most likely this way due to massive blood loss, was peppered with light freckles. Not to mention that it also allowed him a clearer view of her piercing blue eyes before they shifted to stare down at her still trembling hands.

"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes still not meeting his. "For moving me, I wasn't getting anywhere." She croaked; her voice was getting weaker Len noticed.

"Don't mention it," he replied, with one hand still pressed stubbornly but most likely futilely against her side he still had one free hand. He took this one and clamped it firmly onto her shoulder as though to hold her in place, as though the physical anchor would keep her with the world longer.

"You could've gotten out," she mused and he sighed,

"Another day perhaps," he replied, a small smirk starting to creep onto his face as he realized Mick must be running around the city like a dog chasing his tail looking for him, he'd be snatched back up in no time. But Len didn't dare show the smirk, the last thing this strange woman needed was to think he was laughing at her.

"You leave now, you might… you might just make it." She shuddered through the words, talking was becoming more difficult for her.

"No thanks, at this point the cops are swarming the city and I'll get caught." That was a bull-faced lie; he'd never get caught. But he also wouldn't tell that to this vigilante, even though it would ordinarily be something to brag about to a hero. "Speaking of the police," he began a new thought, one that was much more hopeful and optimistic than any thought he'd had about anything since he allowed Mick to be lookout on their last heist. "They'll be coming through here soon, to contain what's left of the riot. They'll be able to get you to a hospital." He promised and at the sight of her weak but still evident smile he thought that maybe she actually believed his words.

"Sara," she all but whispered seemingly out of nowhere. When Leonard stared down at her in curiosity he found her staring back, her stunning blue eyes the only part of her body that still seemed bright with life. "My name is Sara," she explained, her voice momentarily growing strong once again. "I figure if you're going to stay here until I die, you should at least know my name." She continued and it was then that he not only did he know she hadn't believed him about the police being able to get her to a hospital in time, but there was no other lie that he could tell her. Still, he pressed slightly harder on her side with his hand, for whatever reason he was desperate to stop the blood from flowing out of her.

"Leonard," he introduced himself and she flashed him another weak but bright smile.

"Leonard." She repeated, slowly lowering her hands until they met the one that he refused to remove from her hip. Her fingers curled lightly around his palm, and when they did not only did his expression flicker into fear but hers as well.

"Your hand…" She trailed off, though this confused Leonard even more. He looked down to see what the problem was, only to realize that in the midst of trying to put pressure on her wound the blood had soaked through the sheets, leaving his hand sticky and stained with red.

He decided not to tell her that it was no big deal, or that it would wash off later. Instead he simply smiled down at her, allowing her to smile back.

"Thank you," she nearly choked, her voice was so weak now that Len needed to strain to hear it.

"You already said that," he reminded her, worried that the massive blood loss was fogging her mind and causing her to forget.

"I know," she assured him with just the slightest nod of her head. She began coughing again before she could continue, the blood once again coming out in spurts and a few clots, Len wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

Regardless, he removed his hand from her shoulder and used it to gently move some strands of stray blonde hair out of her face so that she wouldn't stain them with blood.

"For not letting me die alone," she hoarsely finished her previous thought, she had to; because the gesture meant more to Sara than Leonard would ever know.

He smiled down at her and placed his hand back on her shoulder, rubbing his thumb in comforting circles on her skin.

They sat in silence after that, Len continuing to trace invisible patterns with his thumb onto her soft but cold skin until she closed her eyes, her shallow breath ceasing not long after. He shuddered once she was gone, wishing he could've been right about the police and how they would come in time. But they hadn't, and even if they had odds are Sara never would've made it to the hospital. She would've died alone in the back of the ambulance, and that thought only upset him more.

Anyway, after only a few seconds had passed Leonard finally removed his bloody hand from her side and used it to rummage through her utility belt. He found what he was looking for almost right away, but then again the pocket was specifically designed to fit a cell phone. He didn't want to call anyone, not Mick and not Lisa; no all he wanted the phone for was its clock.

Time of death; 11:59.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm back! Ok, technically _I_ didn't go anywhere (well actually that's not true, i moved house but that's beside the point) but one-shots are back and the hiatus is officially over! I have one request that i'm working on, this was an original idea, and i'm taking requests again! Also, a quick thank you to JSuth, who corrected me on my spelling of the word "straight" THANK YOU! I have been trying to figure that out forever! I google it but i never get a real answer! Thank you so much for explaining it to me!**


	16. Back to You

**Ok, this is a continuation of "Come Back to Me" requested by Smiling Loki and i an so freaking sorry that it took me this long!**

* * *

If there was one person happier than Sara to see Leonard alive, it was Lisa. After Snart decided that he didn't want to stay on the Waverider Mick had been all set to drop him and Sara off back in Star City 2016, but Sara had instead requested they be let off in Central City. She knew that Len would want to see his sister and vice versa. Sara and Lisa had built a friendship over the past year and a half, despite the circumstances of their first meeting being that Sara had accompanied Mick to tell Lisa about her brother's death.

"Let me talk to her first?" Sara more asked than ordered as she and Len made their way down the hall of Lisa's apartment building hand in hand. "She took it pretty hard when we told her you were dead, I think she might pass out if she answers the door to you." She explained and Len nodded his agreement, but he didn't let her knock on the door before leaning down and pressing a soft but loving kiss to her lips.

Sara smiled a bright smile as he pulled away, her heart fluttering in a way that it hadn't since she was maybe fifteen. When he finally unlocked his hand from hers and went around the corner, that sly smile of his still on his face, Sara took a minute to control her beaming face before knocking on the door. About a minute later the younger of the Snart siblings opened the door and greeted her surprise guest with a smile and a quick hug.

"Sara, what are you doing here?" She asked as she ushered her friend inside of the apartment, she made to close the door but the ex-assassin allowed herself to linger in the doorway just long enough to signal Lisa not to.

"Mick dropped me off," she decided there was no sense in beating around the bush.

"You were on a mission?" Lisa asked, sounding half impressed and half annoyed; in addition to Sara, Lisa is also on call for whenever the Legend's need backup and generally when White Canary is called in so is Golden Glider.

"Relax Lisa, he just needed me to bring someone home." Sara assured with a slight laugh, Lisa hates when Sara gets called into action without her because nine out of ten times the only reason is Mick goes into "big brother mode" when it comes to her.

"Who? One of the new guys quit?" The brown haired woman asked with a curious expression, complete with a raised eyebrow.

"Not exactly," It was a familiar sounding drawl that answered Lisa, and her mouth hung open in shock. Sara had by now stepped into the apartment and when Lisa looked up she realized that her brother of all people had taken to the space in the doorway. She looked over at Sara in disbelief, because she truly couldn't believe it.

"It's him Lisa," Sara assured her, "Mick found him floating around the temporal zone." She further explained and now a wide grin broke out across Lisa's face, Len smirking in amusement that she was so happy to see him.

"Lenny!" She finally exclaimed as if she were a little girl, furthering that by running the two feet it took to get to her brother before jumping him.

Len was, understandably, caught off guard by his grown sister's childlike reaction to seeing him but managed to get over it quickly enough to catch her. She locked her legs tightly around his hips as he held her to him. She may be a full grown adult, but she still felt light as a feather as he spun her around. When he finally set her down he got his first real look at her in over a year, and she looked pretty much the same. The only difference he actually noted was that she had highlighted her hair and was currently wearing a little less makeup than usual.

Sara couldn't help but laugh just a little at Lisa's reaction, she had known that her friend would be beyond thrilled to see her brother again but she hadn't quite expected her to react like a six-year-old.

"How… how are you here?" The brown haired woman finally asked, a bright smile still lighting up her face.

"I think Sara already told you that," Len replied with an amused smirk.

"Yeah but… how did you survive? Especially for a year and a half?" She continued to ask and at this Len looked at Sara, because he honestly had no idea how to answer the question.

Sara was quiet for a minute, a thoughtful expression on her face as she tried to think of an answer to that question. Stein had said something when she first arrived on board the Waverider, but she had been so overjoyed by the fact that Leonard actually was alive that she didn't even question the how and barely listened when the professor started explaining it.

"Stein said something about he could've been blasted through time until he finally landed where they found him, or because the temporal zone exists outside of time being stranded in it without any kind of protection would have the same effects as being in stasis. So it could be almost like he was frozen in time," she explained and while Lisa accepted the answer Len looked at his friend as if she were crazy. "What?" She asked, "Just because I'm not BFF's with the nerd twins doesn't mean I don't understand what they're saying." She defended herself and before anything else could be said Lisa's cellphone gave a buzz, alerting her to an incoming text.

"Ugh, I gotta go to work." She announced and this left Len even more confused,

"Work? I was gone for one year and six months and you got an actual job?" He questioned; Lisa chuckled in amusement.

"Well yes, but not that work." She said cryptically, of course Sara knew exactly what she meant.

"Do they need any help?" She asked and Lisa thought on it for a second,

"We should be fine for now, Cisco's been working on some upgrades to my suit and I think he just wants me to test them out. I'll catch up with you guys later," she said and Sara nodded. "Bye Lenny," Lisa continued, giving her big brother one last hug goodbye before she walked out and left the two in her apartment. The moment she was gone, Len raised an eyebrow at Sara who chuckled.

"Come on, I'll explain everything over coffee." She promised, not giving him much of a chance to argue before she had linked her arm through his and lead him out the door.

* * *

"Are you sure you brought me back to the right earth?" Len found himself asking an hour later when he and Sara were seated at Jitters, where, although she's off today, Lisa apparently works. Sara had explained everything that had gone on in the time he's missed; and his sister's waitressing job isn't even the weirdest thing.

First off that job Lisa got called to back at her apartment, where apparently she's living legally, was S.T.A.R. labs. Apparently she helps The Flash now, Len had nearly choked on his coffee upon hearing that.

"She's happy," Sara assured him as he finally got oxygen back into his lungs. She then continued to explain everything about what had happened with the team after defeating Savage, who had left and who had stayed, and what she had been up to in Star City.

"So you're with the Arrow now?" He teasingly asked once she had finally told him everything, she seemed happy and so he decided that now probably wasn't the best time to give condolences on her sister.

"Not in that sense, but I am working with him." She said with a smirk,

"That's what I meant," He said and she smiled, still just happy to have him back. He smirked at her, of course he had known that wasn't the sense she meant but it was fun to mess with her all the same.

"You don't have to come with me you know," she assured him, her face suddenly serious. "I mean, I want you to but your family's here," she reminded him but he only smiled that signature smirk of his.

"I want to," he assured her, "Lisa's doing just fine without me breathing down her neck and if I'm gonna play hero I'd rather do it in a place where I won't have Barry Allan's smug face taunting me every time I turn around." He said and Sara laughed,

"Well then you're just going to love Ollie's scowling face being there instead." She teased and Len smirked at the idea, he'd only ever met Oliver Queen once, and it had been during a possible future where the man wasn't exactly having the best day. Even so, he's very sure that no matter the timeline, Oliver Queen will always be a very serious man.

"Does he know I'm joining his little team?" He asked and with a mischievous smile Sara shook her head.

"Nope," she replied, popping the P of her answer with amusement. "But he'll get over it." She assured, although she doubted that such a thing would happen any time soon.

"Can't wait," Len drawled in sarcasm.

* * *

"Well that went well," Len commented as he and Sara dragged themselves back to her apartment.

It had been a week since she got the call from Mick that he was alive, two days since they'd returned to Star City together, and forty-five minutes since she'd brought him down into the Arrow Cave. At first Oliver had demanded to know who he was, and once she told him he asked to speak with her in private. Len isn't exactly sure how that conversation went, but if the tension radiating off the two vigilantes when they returned was anything to go by, it hadn't gone well.

"Knowing Ollie, he'll pout for a few days and then he'll come around." Sara insisted, toeing off her boots just as Len came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She giggled in satisfaction, and only continued when he pressed a kiss to the base of her neck and sucked lightly on her skin.

"What's that for?" She asked, not that she was complaining of course.

"I don't want the things I didn't do to keep me up at night anymore," he murmured into her ear just as she twisted around in his arms to capture his lips with her own.

"And what exactly do you regret not doing?" She asked, the suggestive heat in her voice sending chills down his spine.

"Which way was your bedroom again?" He asked between two kisses, although he had already memorized the layout of Sara's apartment and was walking them towards the room he'd just asked about.

She smiled playfully at his antics, matching every forward step he took with a backwards one of her own.

It may be the things in her past that she HAS done that haunt her at night, but when Leonard is around, they suddenly all make sense. When the two of them are together, nothing is missing, and they can both sleep at night.


	17. Waking Up In Vegas

**Author's Note: This basically takes place as if Destiny never happened, and after Savage was defeated Kendra and Carter stayed with the team.**

* * *

It had been a long time since Sara reached the point of being blackout drunk, but as she yanked the covers over her face to evade the offending sight of the sun peeking through the windows, she realized that she had no memory of the previous night. Before she could even try and remember anything, a groan sounded from beside her and without even thinking she was reaching for the knife that she keeps under her pillow and was rolling over, pressing it to the throat of the intruder before growling in annoyance.

"What the hell Snart?" She asked but he simply groaned again.

"What the hell Snart?" He repeated her question with an incredulous moan, "You're the one pressing a knife to my throat Lance," he reminded her and so she took the weapon away and stored it back underneath her pillow.

"What happened?" She found herself groaning as Len sat up, eyes squeezed shut as he also adjusted to the light of the morning.

"Not sure," he replied, "I remember telling Rip to go screw himself, and after that it's all a blur." He continued and Sara nodded in remembrance.

The team had landed in 2018 Las Vegas after learning about a wanted time criminal who was about to put a 22nd century drug on the streets of 2018. Rip had arranged two hotel suits for them, as they parked the Waverider out in the dessert and it was too far from the city for them all to be going back and fourth. They had started last night out in a club; Kendra, Leonard, Sara, and Mick went in undercover while the rest of the team waited outside of the club in case their target left. It was up to Sara to get the target alone, and of course she was able to. But once she had him it didn't take long for him to make her, apparently she had more knowledge about his product than he had allowed his associates to release. He told her that Rip Hunter was his original supplier, and although she didn't want to believe it, some of the others started asking questions over the comm. When Rip's reply came in as _I can explain,_ Sara stopped with the subtle approach. She knocked the drug dealing time traveler unconscious, snatched his pills from his coat, and bolted before his bodyguards could even notice. Once she made it outside, the others who had been in the club right behind her, she carelessly tossed the pills to Rip and when he tried to explain himself Len told him to shove it, and the team had then gone off to make the most of their night in Vegas.

But that's all she could remember, that and a few too many shots.

"Did we…?" She asked, trailing off her question with a hand over her eyes when she felt Leonard picking up the covers.

"Nope," he confirmed for her, both of them letting out a relieved sigh at the words. "Unless we both drunkenly managed to put our cloths from last night back on," he said and Sara did quirk an eyebrow as though she were considering the notion, but she quickly dismissed it and joined Leonard in sitting up.

"Probably not," She agreed, pushing her matted hair back and out of her face, and then noticing something on her finger catching the sunlight as she did so. She pulled her hand back down and furrowed her brow as she examined it. "Why am I wearing your ring?" She asked curiously.

Len looked over to see that she was right, and secured perfectly on her ring finger was the pinky ring he'd lifted from his first job.

"Who knows," he replied with a dismissive shake of his head as she pulled it off and gave it back to him.

* * *

Apparently, Jax knows.

"Should we tell them?" He asked Mick and Kendra.

After the mission basically disbanded, he had joined the team's resident pyromaniac in going for drinks, not that Stein didn't try to stop him. But since they're only two years into their own future, he could show his real I.D. and get clearance from the bartender. In the end Stein, Ray, Carter, and Kendra had ended up joining the two of them while Sara and Snart had already disappeared into a casino. After getting a few drinks they had decided to call it quits, or more specifically they'd decided to drag Mick to bed, and after arriving back in the suit that the arsonist and Ray were sharing with the crook and the assassin the others had stayed; not wanting to go next door to their own suit and deal with Rip.

"You think they remember?" Mick asked, his memory of the previous night is more than a little foggy, but he sure as hell remembers Len and Sara drunkenly stumbling back in around four in the morning with Sara all but screaming that the two of them had gotten married.

"I don't know, but there's no way it's binding." Jax quickly said but Kendra sighed as she crossed her arms.

"Oh it's binding," she sighed, earning suspicious looks from both Mick and Jax. "I've lived 207 lives, do you seriously think I've never gotten married on a whim?" She asked rhetorically, Carter walking in just in time to hear the question.

"Hey, that was one of our better lives." He defended and she only rolled her eyes,

"If your definition of 'one of our better lives' is the one where my father tried to rip your wings off, I think we need to go through the list again." She teased and Carter shrugged in response.

"It was the only life where there was someone who I feared more than Savage, it was a refreshing change of pace." He explained and Kendra chuckled, but the sound of a door opening cut off any chance at a reply she could've had.

The door had been the one that led to the room Sara had claimed as hers, while Mick and Len were supposed to have shared the other one and Ray took the couch. It was Sara who came out, and her face seemed to fall in annoyance upon seeing most of her friends gathered in the living area of the suit.

"Relax Blondie, we know Snart's in there." Mick assured her, sensing what was annoying her.

With a defeated sigh she opened the door more fully, allowing the others in the room a slight glimpse at Snart coming up behind Sara.

They both looked like death warm over. Leonard's black suit from the previous night was disheveled and stained with something that was undoubtedly alcohol and Sara's backless dressed was wrinkled and turned almost too much to the side, not to mention her hair was in a tangled mess of knots, and they both looked to be very confused.

"Just for the record, we were both drunk and nothing happened." Sara defended before anything could be accused, and Jax scoffed at her assumption.

"That's what you think," he muttered under his breath, though his hung over teammates still managed to hear him clear as day.

"What was that?" Len demanded and the color flushed from Jax's cheeks, he hadn't expected to be heard.

"Uh, nothing." He stammered but Sara was now fixing him with one of her signature glares, the dark circles under her eyes (which were made primarily of make-up) only working to her advantage and making her that much more terrifying to her younger teammate.

"Jax," She said sternly, the younger man shrinking back into his seat on the couch.

"Uh, look it's not what you think! We didn't hear anything, so as far as I know you didn't… you know, hook up or anything." He stuttered as Sara drew closer until she was hovering directly over him.

"Then what DID happen?" She demanded through gritted teeth, she had never been the most pleasant person to deal with when hung over.

"Easy Blondie," Mick interrupted, "We don't have any proof that ANYTHING happened, you were so drunk you might have been lying." He said, her attention now turning to him.

"Lying about what?" She questioned and suddenly it was Mick who looked to be uncomfortable.

"Well…" Kendra cut in, "The two of you sort of came back, saying that you got married." She cringed; Leonard and Sara's eyes both went well over a mile wide with shock.

* * *

"You have got to be bloody kidding me!" Rip shouted when the afternoon found him standing over Sara and Leonard, who were sitting on the ground slumped against the wall of a 24-hour wedding chapel.

"To be fair, none of this would've happened if you'd told us you used to be a drug dealer." Leonard said, trying to turn this whole thing around, and knowing that it wouldn't work for long.

"I was not a drug dealer! He had information on Savage and I had some, admittedly addictive, pills that he wanted. He didn't tell me he was going to sell them in this century, otherwise I never would've- never mind!" He quickly exclaimed, realizing that he was being lead off of the subject. "The fact remains that the two of you were COMPLETELY irresponsible and managed to get so drunk that you went and got married!" He scolded and in response Sara pointed her index finger at him.

"Hey, being COMPLETELY irresponsible would be unprotected sex." She said and when he simply raised an eyebrow at her, her eyes became shamefully downcast and she felt all the more like a teenager being scolded by her father.

"We don't think so but I'll take a test in two weeks," she muttered, mostly just to put Rip's mind even the least bit at ease.

"So they won't give you an annulment or anything?" Ray questioned, he too was standing with Rip while the rest of the team had gone into the chapel to see if they might have any luck getting the marriage of their friends annulled.

"Oh they gave us something, a marriage certificate." Len replied, holding up the piece of paper in mock triumph.

"Which we apparently both signed," Sara said dejectedly, resting her head in her hands while Ray took the certificate from Len and attempted to read their hardly legible signatures.

"You know; if one of you had misspelled your name you might be able to argue that the person you married doesn't exist." He half joked, handing the paper back to Len who simply rolled his eyes at the comment.

Just at that moment, Mick returned from the lobby of the chapel shaking his head, a sign that they had had no luck.

"Sorry," he said as his now married friends got to their feet. "They're saying that you both signed the papers so there's nothing they can do." He continued and so Sara tipped her head back and groaned in disappointment.

"Where are the others?" Rip asked and at that Mick huffed,

"Carter's trying to convince Kendra to get married while we're here, Professor's arguing with the minister over his qualifications to preform a marriage ceremony, and the kid's trying to keep him from getting punched in the face." He replied and Rip rolled his eyes, if Mick Rory being the mature one isn't a clear sign of trouble then nothing is.

"Yes well round them up, we're leaving." He said and while Mick nodded and turned around, Sara all but jumped in front of Rip.

"Wait what?" She demanded, "Leonard and I are still married," she reminded him and he huffed.

"I am aware of that, but unfortunately you are also being denied an annulment and an actual divorce will take far too much time, and we have to move out soon." He said; trying to walk away but the three members of his crew that he was currently with blocked his path.

"No offence to Canary, but I'd rather not stay married to her." Len remarked and Sara nodded, she and Leonard may be good friends and somewhere deep inside her she knows she has feelings for him, but finding herself married to the crook was a little too much as of right now and they both knew it.

Maybe it was the fact that he knew practically forcing two members of his crew to remain married to each other was wrong, or maybe it was the hard glares that they were fixing him with, but Rip sighed.

"We will stay here for the remainder of the day to allow you to figure this out, but if you don't at least have a plan by tonight we're leaving." He said and then turned around and walked away before he could be guilt tripped into continuing the conversation further.

* * *

"Any luck?" Sara questioned Len later on that afternoon when he came walking back into the suite, her being situated on the couch with her laptop in front of her.

"Not yet," he declared with a shake of his head. "Apparently no one whose working in that chapel today was working last night, and without any proof that we were drunk our chances at getting approved for an annulment are slim." He explained and Sara groaned in annoyance, knowing that 'slim' actually meant 'nonexistent'. "No luck here?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Apparently, even if we do manage to get approved for an annulment, it can take anywhere between a few weeks and a few months to go through." She said and Len sighed,

"Not to mention that'll undoubtedly involve our past records, which considering we basically disappeared two years ago, is going to raise some questions." He said and Sara nodded, the frustrated look never once leaving her face.

"Plus it'll bring up your record and there's no way they won't send you to prison," she mused as Leonard came to sit beside her, waving off the notion of him possibly going back to jail.

"I can get out of there," he assured her, "But we definitely don't have a time to wait around for a few months." He said and Sara nodded in agreement.

"Even if we time jumped to the date of the court appointment, the fact that neither of us have records of having done anything in the meantime will raise suspicion." She said and so now it was Len's turn to sigh.

"So what?" He asked, "Either Rip leaves us in 2018 or we stay married?"

"What if we go home?" Sara suggested and Len raised an eyebrow at her,

"I mean, we signed the marriage certificate on August 11, 2018, but if we go home the marriage won't be valid for another two years. Then when we don't get married, it'll change the timeline, right?" She asked but she said this just as Mick came marching in, munching on a candy bar he had gotten from a vending machine.

"Wrong," he declared, moving to sit in the chair across from his friends, "It'll create a time paradox. There are only two ways to fix this; either the two of you stay here until you can get the marriage annulled, or you go home and wait for this day to get here, after which you can find a way to get this thing annulled." He said, not that either of those options were preferable in the least.

"So there's no other option that won't cause a time paradox?" Sara asked and Mick shook his head.

"That's what happens when you sign official documents outside of your own time. The only other thing you could do is go back home and get married in the present, that way what happened here won't even matter." He suggested, taking another bite of his candy bar as he did.

"We're looking to get unmarried, Mick, not remarried." Len sharply reminded but Mick only shrugged, unfazed by his partner's snarky tone.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but no matter how you slice it, you're stuck with each other for now." He said and with that he got up and retreated to his and Leonard's room to pack up whatever he had brought with him from the ship, which actually consisted of nothing except a jacket, but still served as an excuse to leave his best friends to think over their options.

* * *

"So, are we all set to leave?" Rip asked when sunset rolled around and the entire team filed one by one onto the Waverider, including the resident crook and assassin.

"Yup," Leonard declared as he boarded just behind Sara.

"You two find a way to get your marriage annulled?" Ray questioned in surprise, the emotion only growing when Sara shook her head.

"Nope," she drawled out whilst leaning casually on the control table in the way that she so often does.

"Even if we did stay another night here and go back to the chapel when someone who saw us was working again, it could still take months for an annulment to actually go through." She explained and Len nodded in agreement.

"So we decided that if we HAVE to wait who knows how long to get out of this, we'd rather spend it on this ship and doing our job." He said but the others looked rather skeptical of the plan.

"So, just to be clear, the two of you are still married?" Stein questioned and when they both nodded he somehow became even more shocked, like up until that moment he had believed it was all a joke.

"Technically the marriage isn't valid before 2018, but yes, we are still married." Leonard confirmed, of course it only furthered the dumbfounded looks on the faces of the others.

"I know I said that you only had until the end of today to come up with a plan, but-"

"This is our plan Rip," Sara cut the captain off, "We're not going to hold up the mission or our jobs as the new Time Masters because of one drunken night. If a piece of paper in 2018 says we're married then we can deal with that being out there until we can get it annulled without causing a paradox."

"You do realize that is going to be two years from your present, right?" Rip questioned the both of them, "You're going to live out those two years, be it here or back home." He warned and they both shrugged,

"It's just a piece of paper Rip, doesn't actually mean anything to either of us." Len assured him and while the captain sincerely doubted that, he also knew that continuing this conversation would be futile.

"Very well, if the two of you feel this is best then let's get going." He said and so not needing any further prompting the team strapped in, ready to head to their next destination.

* * *

Sara was sitting on her bed, sharpening her knives after an easy mission back in 1561, a temporal anomaly that ended up being an easy fix, when Leonard Snart of all people came and stood in her doorway.

"You know, technically, it is our wedding night." He said to her and she allowed herself a small smirk at him before returning to her task.

"Just for the record, I'm not taking your last name." She teased,

"I wouldn't expect you to," he assured her, now inviting himself in and climbing onto her bed.

"I'm also not spending what may or may not be our wedding night in bed with you when I can't remember the actual wedding." She said just as he took a deck of cards out of his jacket pocket.

"Relax Canary, I just stopped by for a game. Besides, that seems to be the way we celebrate." He said and Sara had to smirk at that, because he was right. They do just about everything while playing cards. When they started it was just because they were both willing to play, but it had since evolved into their way of communication.

In a way, the cards were a crutch. Something that they could both lean on when they needed a mental break from whatever conversation they were having. With the aid of the cards they'd discussed everything from Lewis Snart, Laurel's death, Sara's time in the league, and Leonard's mother. So as he dealt them out with a thoughtful look on his face, Sara knew that a conversation was coming.

"So… two years," He mused as Sara picked up her cards.

"Yup," she replied, "Think we'll kill each other?" She asked and Len smirked.

"Maybe," he said, "At least now we know why you were wearing my ring this morning." He said and Sara nodded thoughtfully.

"I don't supposed I could get that back?" She half joked, "Since it apparently was my wedding ring." She teased and Leonard smirked,

"I'll get you a real one at the next stop," he promised and when Sara looked skeptically at him she saw that his face was completely serious. She thought about commenting on that, but chose not to and instead set her focus on the game.


	18. The Kids

**This is a request from Smiling Loki, who wanted to see Leonard and Sara fitting into team Arrow. Um... probably not what you ad in mind, i kind of had a joke planned and the whole one shot just took on a life of it's own from that. But uh, sorry not sorry.**

* * *

"Again!" Sara barked for maybe the seventeenth time as she drilled Evelyn in her hand-to-hand combat training.

With a huff, Evelyn made yet another attempt at the maneuver Sara was attempting to teach her. She kicked her leg high, aiming to kick Sara in the chest, but the blonde caught her ankle and sent her flying back. Enraged, Evelyn went charging back towards Sara only to be quickly subdued. The younger girl growled in annoyance at yet another defeat as Sara climbed off her and offered a hand to help her up, which she promptly ignored.

"You're getting better," Sara congratulated, "But you've gotta reign in your temper, you get beat once and you're sloppy every round after."

"That's because in real fighting there is no round two," Evelyn muttered.

"That's what I used to think," Sara said with a smirk, "But second chances or more common than you think."

With that being said, it was almost as if on cue that Leonard came filing into the liar, all but dragging a cussing Rene along with him by a rather firm grip on his arm.

"Speaking of needing to reign in a temper," Sara murmured as she looked over her shoulder, "What happened?" She questioned in a tone that also questioned whether or not she really wanted to know.

"Somebody," Leonard stated, giving Rene a not so gentle shove forward. "Met up with an old friend who wasn't very friendly, he knew what buttons to push and long story short; kid almost ended up with a knife to the throat." He explained and as Sara approached Rene with her arms folded sternly across her middle, the boy almost seemed to shrink under her hard gaze.

"What is the rule on knives to your throat?" She demanded and Rene huffed in annoyance.

"That yours are the only ones that should get that close," he mumbled and Sara nodded.

"Correct, fifty on the salmon ladder." She said and Rene gave her a look that appeared to be a mix between disgust and disbelief.

"Fifty?" He demanded but Sara wasn't fazed.

"Ollie would make it a hundred, take it or do his time." She bargained and knowing that she was right Rene simply growled and made his way over to the salmon ladder.

"I signed on to train with the Green Arrow, not White Canary and Captain Cold." He mumbled under his breath as he began his first ascent up the ladder, Evelyn standing at the base and watching him with mild interest.

"Well tough," Len told him sharply, "Your little mentor is currently out of town on mayoral business, so until he gets back you're stuck with us. And if it's any consolation, I didn't sign on to babysit two teenagers." He continued and Sara smirked at the comment, not so subtly brushing up against her boyfriend.

"And Curtis," Evelyn added and Len smirked at the statement.

"And Curtis," He amended, never in his life had Leonard Snart believed he would find a bigger man-child than Raymond Palmer, but Curtis Holt could definitely give the shrinking man a run for his money.

"Where is Curtis anyway?" Sara asked and Len shrugged,

"Some kind of family thing with Paul, he promised Ollie he would make up the training hours when he got back." Evelyn supplied and Sara chuckled,

"Bad idea Curtis," She teased even though the man wasn't present at the moment, she knew that Oliver was going to spend every second of those training hours making sure that Curtis never even thought about skipping again.

"I don't know, I think I might take him working my ass double time if it meant I didn't have to patrol with the ice man." Rene claimed through his huffs for breath as he descended the salmon ladder for maybe the sixth time.

"I'll be sure to tell him you said that," Sara remarked before Len could, knowing very well by now that Rene is all bark and no bite.

As if to add insult to injury, or rather injury to insult in this case, Rene lost his grip on the ladder bar right at that moment and plummeted to the mat below. He let out a loud roar of anger, only growing more enraged when Evelyn started giggling at him. Sara also chuckled at the bad karma, while Leonard just smirked.

"Get back up, because none of us can go home until you finish." He said and in response Rene growled again.

"Then maybe to torture you, I'll just stay down here." He threatened, now it was Sara's turn to smirk.

"Go ahead, but just a warning that I might get bored and when that happens I play with my knives." She all but threatened and while Rene was fairly certain that she was all talk he still got up and started his punishment again.

* * *

"Rain's really coming down," Len mused later on that night as he and Sara were making dinner.

Sara, who was currently focusing on the hamburgers she had in the pan, looked out the window at his comment and hummed in agreement.

"Good call not patrolling late," she commented and Len nodded,

"Those kids need more work before they're ready to hit the streets, as proven today by Rene's trial run." He said just as a flash of lightning struck outside and was soon followed by a clap of thunder.

The former crook and assassin remained in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes before a knock sounded at their front door. Obviously they were both confused by this, as neither of them was expecting company, and so it's understandable that Len was a little on the cautious side when he went to open the door.

When he did open the door, he found none other than Rene Ramirez and Evelyn Sharp standing on the other side. They were both soaked from the rain, not to mention they looked embarrassed as though this were the absolute last place either of them wanted to be.

"What are you two doing here?" Len found himself asking,

"Bus never showed, and I live all the way on the other side of the city. I was hoping I could wait out the storm with you guys." Rene shrugged, leaving Len's eyes to switch to Evelyn for her answer.

"Oliver still hasn't given me a key to the apartment." She admitted; she's been staying with Oliver ever since she joined the team, but the Green Arrow was continuously putting off giving her a key to the place. At first they thought maybe he didn't trust her, but at this point they all knew it was just classic procrastination.

"Sara, do we have anymore burgers?" He asked, letting the two teens into the apartment.

"Yup," Sara confirmed, just barely glancing at the two before she began grabbing the box of frozen patties from the freezer. "But you two are drenched," she quickly said before either of the teens could sit down anywhere.

It was true, after walking a few blocks in the pouring rain it was no wonder that they were both sopping wet. So without anything more than a few looks, Len went and took over the cooking whilst his girlfriend dragged their two guests into their bedroom where he just knew she would be rifling through both their drawers.

Ten minutes later and Evelyn came out of the bedroom in a pair of Sara's sweatpants and one of her tank tops, while Rene looked rather uncomfortable about emerging from the bathroom in sweats and a t-shirt that belong to Leonard. The sight, of course, earned a smirk from both Len and Sara, as they thought it was hilarious to see the two hotheads looking so embarrassed and, for the first real time, like kids.

"It's pretty much just ketchup, mayonnaise, or mustard. Although if you dig far enough, there might be a few pickles in there." Len said as he handed each of the kids a paper plate with a cheeseburger on it.

"Thank you," Evelyn said, stiffly mind you, but she still said it.

"Thanks," Rene mumbled, following his friend's lead of being polite.

"You two can relax, we're not as deadly at home as we are in training." Sara assured them with a laugh.

"Can't be to careful," Rene mumbled and at that Leonard found himself smirking in amusement.

Five minutes into dinner and all the awkwardness was gone.

Sara and Leonard don't really have a kitchen table, just a counter bar with a few stools. So it was a little crowded having all four of them eating on the one surface, but they managed up until Evelyn accidently knocked over Len's glass of soda and instead of yelling like the nearly mortified girl had expected him too, the former crook smiled an evil smirk and waited patiently for her to take another sip of her own soda. He then reached across the counter and tipped the glass as she brought it to her mouth, resulting in it spilling all down her chin and shirt.

"Hey, that's my shirt!" Sara shouted once she had finished laughing, and so naturally she decided to retaliate by splashing her own drink onto Rene.

"What the- oh it's on Canary!" The boy teased, getting to his feet and Sara doing the same on her end.

"Oh yeah? What do ya got Wild Dog?" She mocked, rising to her feet as well.

For a minute, it almost looked like Rene might have sat back down, but instead he grabbed the bottle of ketchup and squeezed it at Sara. She, naturally, hid her head behind her arms in a futile attempt to shield herself until Rene was done, at which point Evelyn had all but fallen over laughing and Leonard was debating whether or not to intervene. He eventually decided against the idea until Sara picked up the mustard bottle and aimed to squirt it at Rene, at which point he tried to take it from her but just ended up as the one being doused in the yellow substance.

Things clamed down quickly after that, as the four of them didn't want to make a HUGE mess because the clean up would be a pain in the neck. So once dinner was over and everyone had changed clothes, marking this as Evelyn and Rene's second time, they all sat around the coffee table to play five-card draw.

"How do you not know how to play poker?" Rene questioned once Evelyn revealed this fact about herself.

She merely shrugged at the question, as if having no knowledge on the game by the age of sixteen were perfectly normal.

"My parents weren't really into gambling," she excused,

"Ok well it's pretty easy," Sara assured her, "We each get five cards, you have one chance to throw away up to three, and then we all show what we have." She explained before diving into the different sets and pairs that you could have, thoroughly explaining what was worth how much and what were the best cards to have.

Evelyn caught on pretty quick, only asking questions during the first two rounds and even then only because there were a few things Sara had skipped over. By the fifth round she was playing as if she had known how all her life.

"Your parents may not have been gamblers kid, but someone must have been, you've got it in your genes." Leonard joked and Evelyn simply smirked at him in retaliation before coming out on top in the round.

"Beginner's luck," Rene grumbled, collecting up the cards to deal again.

* * *

A few hours later, long after the card games, Sara and Len had just headed to their room and left Evelyn lying on the couch and Rene in the armchair. The two teenagers had the TV on and were half watching _National Treasure_ when Evelyn's phone began buzzing.

"Hey Oliver," she answered once she located the phone.

"Hey, I just started unpacking and realized I still have the key I was going to give you in my pocket." He said on the other end, getting a giggle from Evelyn in response.

"Don't worry, I know better than to break into the apartment of a vigilante, can't even imagine what kind of booby traps you have set." She assured him, rolling her eyes at Rene because he knew what Olive was saying and was silently laughing to himself.

"So where are you?" Oliver asked,

"Don't worry, Rene and I are with mom and dad." She said it so casually, and while it only had Rene laughing harder, Oliver went silent for a good thirty seconds on the other end.

"Who?" He eventually questioned, now Evelyn laughed nearly as hard as Rene.

"Sara and Len, I came to their place when I realized the apartment was still locked and Rene came to wait out the storm, which still hasn't stopped so he just never left." She said, earning a pillow to the face from the boy in the chair. She threw it back and he didn't retaliate with anything more than sticking out his tongue, preferring to wait until she was off the phone with the man capable of making both their lives a living hell.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sara had been about to go into the kitchen when she heard Evelyn on the phone with Ollie, and instead closed the bedroom door with a small laugh.

"What?" Len asked, curious about his girlfriend's sudden amusement.

She kept laughing quietly to herself as she walked to the bed and crawled on, locking her arms around Leonard's neck and giving him a kiss before telling him what she had overheard.

"Apparently, we're mom and dad now." She said and he quirked an amused eyebrow at her.

"Something you want to tell me?" He teased and Sara chuckled,

"Evelyn's on the phone with Ollie, she says that her and Rene are spending the night with mom and dad." She explained and now it was Leonard's turn to smirk in amusement.

"Think they'll ever say that to our faces?" He asked and Sara shrugged,

"Maybe, they've got mouths on them." She decided and Len nodded, "If they do, what do you think we should say?"

"Well that depends," Len began with that mocking grin of his, "If it comes out during one of their tantrums, we should ground them. If we've just saved one of their lives, I say just go with it, and if it just comes up as a comment… I still like the idea of grounding them." He teased and with a smile that was nothing short of giddy Sara leaned in and gave her boyfriend another kiss, before pulling away with a slight pout.

"What?" Leonard asked,

"We had plans for the storm," she reminded him, which was more or less a lie because they never actually plan what they do in bed, but they learned months ago that they both have a favorite way of spending rainy nights.

"We can still do that," he assured her, "but two rules; lock the door and keep it down." Sara shook her head in disagreement but still got up and turned the lock on their door.

"One more rule," she said, explaining the disagreement. "Don't give them a sibling."


	19. Testing the Waters

**This is a sequel to "Waking Up In Vegas" as requested by Pottergirl3333**

* * *

It was the morning after the mission in 1561, which had occurred just after the one in 2018. Actually it wasn't really morning, just whatever passed for morning in the temporal zone. Anyway, most of the team was gathered in the kitchen when Sara made her way in, Len was already there and had been for a while. But the room seemed to grow heavy with her entrance, and so after she grabbed her usual apple and took a bite she looked around at the others.

"What?" She demanded and it was Jax who sighed.

"Man, are we really not going to talk about the fact that you two got married?" He questioned, resulting in both Sara and Leonard rolling their eyes.

"No, we're not." Len bit out from his own corner. "Do you know why?" He asked, almost mockingly, "Because it doesn't change anything." He concluded and Sara nodded in agreement.

"It's just a piece of paper, which you'll all have forgotten about in a week." She added but Rip scoffed at the notion, earning glares from more than just the newlyweds.

"This group let something go?" He asked, "You have a better chance at reversing the extinction of the dinosaurs." He concluded and when that had Len arching an eyebrow at him he sighed dramatically. "For the record that is impossible even with time travel," He confirmed and so with that settled, more or less, the team went about eating their breakfast.

* * *

"I thought you said nothings changed?" Mick asked when the group had landed in New York City during March of 1962 and during some down time he followed Len into town, being silent until his partner ducked into a jewelry store.

"I did, it hasn't." Leonard insisted after he had paid for the engagement ring and a set of wedding bands, knowing that he should've tried harder to ditch his old friend who was now looking at him with eyes that did nothing but call bullshit.

"What's with the rings?" He questioned and Len rolled his eyes, leading Mick out of the store before he answered.

"Just a joke," he excused, not that Mick believed it for even half a second.

"Pretty expensive joke, you didn't even steal it."

"Mick," Len sneered, barely giving the pyro a chance to finish.

"I'm just saying," Mick continued, completely unfazed by his partners warning tone of voice. "It ain't no secret that you and Sara are close, and I know it wasn't Rip you worried about in 2046-"

"So not wanting Sara dead means that I'm in love with her?" Len interrupted and Mick did nothing other than give a small half smirk as he clasped him on the shoulder.

"You said it, not me." He said before walking off and leaving Leonard standing there, no doubt Mick's face was growing ever smugger as he walked away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sara was back on the ship and heading into Rip's office while the captain was seated at his cluttered desk and looking through some files for their current mission. She stopped just in front of him and when he looked up at her she simply tossed a little white stick onto the desk.

"Told you we didn't do anything stupid," she said with a smugness that could've rivaled Mick's.

Confused, and a little surprised, Rip looked down and picked up the stick to see that it was a negative pregnancy test.

"Don't worry, I took two." She assured him as he handed the test back to her with an apologetic frown.

"Well I wouldn't say you didn't do ANYTHING stupid," he said, "After all, you did get married." He lightly teased as he got up and began to head for the exit of his office; Sara only rolled her eyes while turning on her heel with intentions on following him.

"I thought we weren't acknowledging that?" She moaned and both she and the captain were halted in their tracks when Leonard came to a casual stop in the door.

"And yet you're the one who asked for ring," he mocked, tossing a small jewelry box her way. She caught easily, though with a slightly confused face as if she almost didn't remember the conversation she and Leonard had had while they played cards on their wedding night, if they were really calling it that.

Opening the box, Sara found that resting inside of it was a beautifully gold colored engagement ring with two small diamonds set on either side of the larger one in the center. Admittedly, one of her hands flew to her mouth in amazement at the sight and it took all of the self-control that she had been taught in the league to keep herself from smiling and giving Rip the wrong idea.

"What? You didn't buy wedding bands while you were at it?" She finally managed to quip and Len smirked at her sarcasm. Actually scratch that, he laughed a little bit too because he could blatantly see the happiness she was trying to hide, though why she was so happy he couldn't quite be sure.

But regardless, he stunned her even more when he pulled a second jewelry box from his pocket and opened it himself, taking out his wedding band and slipping it onto his finger before closing the box and tossing it to her to do the same.

* * *

The topic of Sara and Leonard's marriage, after everybody one by one noticed the wedding rings, didn't really come up again until almost a month later when Sara was tearing apart the Waverider looking for god knows what and calling for Snart every ten minutes or so.

"Your wife's looking for you," Jax quipped when the crook made his way into the kitchen, and rolled his eyes upon hearing his younger teammate's comment.

"I know," he said, "She's pissed because I hid her good knife," he explained and Jax only raised an eyebrow at the information.

"You what?" He demanded and Len chuckled, taking a seat at the vacant barstool next to Jax.

"Ever since we got on this ship I've been wondering if I could steal from a trained assassin, and I finally got my answer." He said mischievously, "Granted it took months of planning and a 22nd century lock on the bathroom door, but I got it." He gloated and for a brief second Jax laughed, before his face paled in horror.

Len obviously knew that such a reaction could only mean one thing, and so he put on his best smirk before swiveling in his seat to meet the furiously cold death glare of Sara Lance staring down at him.

"Hi honey," he greeted smugly, the fact that she didn't even flinch did make him feel a little uneasy.

"Where is my knife?" She demanded calmly, but Len still only chuckled.

"Now who in their right mind would a give a knife to a person with that look on their face?" He joked but again her face didn't flinch, and he started to believe that maybe he went too far and actually pissed her off. So it was with a sigh that he opened up his jacket and took the knife, still incased inside of it's sheath, out of his hidden pocket and handed it to Sara.

"There, no harm done." He said,

"Wrong," Sara said darkly with just a hint of teasing added to her voice. "Harm very much done, and I will get my revenge." She warned before turning on her heel and walking out, leaving Len to wonder if she added that extra sway to her hips on purpose or not.

"Well, it was nice knowing you." Jax said with a smirk, finding the entire situation ridiculous.

* * *

Sara did in fact get her revenge on Len, and she waited for the perfect moment. She waited until they had docked in New England during March of 1888, in the middle of what is arguably one of the biggest snowstorms in history. The entire ship was freezing to the point where the heating systems eventually gave out. So Len had gone to take a hot shower as a way to temporarily warm up, and that was when Sara saw her window of opportunity. She waited until she heard the shower running, and then hurried to Leonard's bedroom where she proceeded to expertly pick the lock of the case concealing his cold gun. Once she had the gun she didn't steal it like he might have been expecting, no her game was much more sinister. By the time she was done everything that Leonard owned was coated it a thick layer of ice, and when he showed up in her doorway a half hour later in a barrowed pair of Mick's pajamas, well Sara couldn't fight the smile on her face.

"Hi honey," She mocked, remembering the exact taunt he had thrown in her face when she confronted him about her knife. "What's wrong?" She feigned innocence that he so easily saw right through.

"Well it's thirty below outside, barely zero inside, and you went and froze all my stuff." He reported with his arms folded across his chest, the long sleeves of Mick's shirt baggy on his skinnier arms looked just as ridiculous as they rest of the shirt on his leaner frame.

"You have no proof that was me," Sara claimed and Len smirked at her before entering her room and making himself comfortable on her bed.

"Regardless, with the ship's heating down and my room now a guarantee for hypothermia, I need to find somehow else to sleep." He said, turning her plan for payback into payback of his own.

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you stay in here?" She asked,

"Well I know the fact that you're the one who put in this situation won't count for anything, or the fact that we're technically married, but would you really make me share a room with Mick?" He asked and Sara thought on the logic for a moment.

"Haven't you've been sharing a room with Mick for most of your life?" She asked and he nodded,

"I also haven't been sleeping for most of my life, Mick snores like a jet engine." He said and Sara had to laugh at that.

"I know, I can hear him from in here sometimes." She laughed, "Ok," she agreed and upon hearing the answer Len's eyebrows nearly shot to his hairline, he hadn't expected her to actually agree to such an arrangement, and especially not so easily.

* * *

When night came Len debated on maybe just going to Mick's room, or even the brig, instead of Sara's. But in the end he decided that if she made the mistake of letting him into her room while his thaws, then he's going to hold her to it. He knocked on her door once, then twice, then three times before it finally slid open to reveal Sara pulling a hairbrush through her wet hair.

"I heard you the first time," she said as he entered and the door swished shut behind him.

"So why didn't you let me in?" He asked and she shrugged,

"I was changing." She replied and with a roll of his eyes Leonard simply dropped the discussion and headed for the bed.

For a minute he just sat there, watching Sara as she stood in front of the wall mirror she had hung, brushing her hair. He couldn't explain what, but something about this sight sparked an interest in him. There was something about just sitting there, watching Sara run a brush through her hair as she got ready for bed after a shower that was appealing to him. Something about the normalcy of it, not that he would know normal even if it bit him in the ass. He's a halfway reformed crook who is traveling through time and accidently wound up married to an ex-assassin, and if that isn't a far cry from normal than nothing is.

Sara then snapped him out of his thoughts when she placed her hairbrush down on her desk and turned out the lights. She made her way across the room without a word and Len moved over to allow her onto the bed. She settled beside him easily, almost as though this were something that they had done before.

"Was this your plan all along assassin?" He found himself asking as he shifted to lie down, fully aware that he could be crossing a boundary line by putting his arm around Sara's shoulders.

"Please," she scoffed at the notion, and only tensed briefly at the action with his arm before moving on with the conversation. "If I wanted you in my bed, I would've just asked." She replied and he couldn't fight the snicker that came over him.

"Can't promise I would've refused if you had," he joked and even in the dark he could feel her smirking right next to him.

"I just figure that since I did ice everything in your room, which you still have no proof of, the least I can do is let you sleep some place warmer." She explained, "That and you are my husband, so I apparently made a vow to care for you." She added that last bit as an afterthought, but they both knew that it was the first time either of them had ever referred to their marriage without calling it a technicality.

"So our vows did mean something?" Len teased as Sara inched just a tad bit closer to him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe, I still don't remember them." She said before tilting her head up to face him. "Do you?" She asked and he gave a shrug, though he tried not to jostle her head.

"Not the vows, but bits and pieces have been coming back to me." He revealed, now looking down at her to find her staring up with patient and attentive eyes. "I remember a few bars I didn't at first, so we really must have been hammered." He began and Sara laughed,

"We got married, I already know we were hammered." She reminded him, "What else?"

Len though on the question for a minute, there was one thing that he could remember very clearly. He remembered feeling this intense level of anger, remembered watching Sara from across a bar while she started getting on with a tall brunette in a green dress. He remembered utter relief when the other woman was dragged away by whom he assumes were her friends, and he remembers Sara pouting afterwards.

But of course he would never tell her that.

"Not much, just a lot of tequila." He told her and she nodded.

"I haven't remembered much either, but I think we kissed at least once." She said and Len smirked,

"We got married, we definitely kissed." He said and Sara hummed in agreement.

"Goodnight," she murmured before abruptly rolling over, suddenly feeling a little too emotionally exposed for her liking. She felt Len's eyes on her for a second, then a minute, and then finally he sighed.

"Goodnight."


	20. Tears in the Middle of the Night

It had been a rough few days.

Ever since the mission began, whenever Ray thought about the end of it, he had imagined a celebration over Savage's death. But instead they had only taken a moment or two to bask in the glory of their success, and then it was right back to business. Sure they had all taken time to think about Rip's offer to throw back in with him, but they all knew that the decision was an easy one, even for Kendra and Carter who opted out. But they hadn't even so much as gotten back on the ship when a man named Rex Tyler, claiming to be from the JSA, showed up and warned them all that their mission would be nothing more than suicide. Yet they all boarded the ship, prophesy hanging over their heads and all.

Maybe they shouldn't have.

So far they had almost died a total of six times when combining everyone's experiences, and the mission was only four days in. Today it had been Ray and Sara, adding numbers five and six to the tally, and while Sara had claimed she was fine and certainly appeared so for the rest of the day; Ray was still pretty shaken. He decided that since it was now the middle of the night, or what they were calling night considering they were in the temporal zone, he might as well check on her just to make sure she's truly ok. He approached her door and was about to knock, when he thought he heard a noise on the other side. It sounded almost like a whimper, and so instead of knocking he simply pressed the button to open her door.

He was not prepared for the sight he found when it opened.

Sara was lying flat on her stomach, her blankets thrown off her and one leg hanging carelessly over the edge of the mattress. Briefly, Ray noticed that she wasn't wearing any pants. Instead she was clad in a simple white tank top and her underwear, and for once he didn't have the time to be awkward about the sight. Her head was angled to the side so that she could breath but he almost doubted that she was, as her face was alarmingly red and tears streamed down it while she cried out bloody murder. He hadn't realized until that moment just how soundproof the walls on the Waverider are, because he should've been able to hear her from down the hall. But again, he didn't focus on this fact. All he focused on was the fact that Sara was clearly very far from ok.

He hustled into her room, her door closing behind him and blocking out the light of the hallway so that he could no longer really see her or where he was going. But he managed to stumble over to her bed, hands stretched out in front of him until they came to rest on the very edge of the mattress.

"Sara!" He exclaimed in a whisper, cautiously placing one hand on the top of her back only to feel how hot and flushed her skin had become. Despite not saying anything to him, Sara did roll on her side when he tried to sit on the edge of the mattress, at least letting him know that she was perfectly aware of his presence. "Sara it's ok, come on, I'll take you to the med bay and Gideon can check you over." He promised, their near death experiences today had involved them being knocked out and later held at gunpoint. Ray didn't think, up until now, that their captors had done anything to Sara other than threaten her, but he must have missed something.

Or maybe not, because the moment he mentioned the med bay Sara began shaking her head violently and pulling the crumpled mess of her sheets up from under her until she was clutching a corner to her chest.

"Sara, if they did something to you-" Her head shaking cut him off again, and she opened her mouth as if to say something but the only thing that came out was loud sob. "Alight," Ray huffed out in a defeated voice, suddenly feeling more like he was dealing with a hysterical child instead of the team's resident assassin. "Where does it hurt?" He asked but again she shook her head. "Nothing hurts?" He asked disbelievingly, this time when Sara shook her head it was in an up and down motion to confirm his statement. "Then what's wrong? Is it a nightmare?" He asked but this time Sara didn't respond, just choked back a sob before she began hyperventilating and pushing herself to sit up.

As she sat there, breath hitching sharply in her throat over and over again, Ray couldn't help but start to feel scared. He watched her fearfully, wondering what could've brought a meltdown like this upon her of all people if not physical pain.

"I…miss…" She managed to choke out before another sob wracked through her body and she all but fell forward, crashing her face into Ray's chest and taking him off guard. But he was able to put together her words, figuring out what it was she was trying to say; she was crying for Laurel.

Now understanding the situation before him, Ray wrapped his arms around Sara's back and held her closer to him. He expected her to pull away, but she must really be hurting because she instead clutched the fabric of his t-shirt with her fists as though he were her anchor to the world.

"I'm so sorry Sara," he whispered to her, "Laurel didn't deserve to die." He assured her.

Truthfully, in all that had been happening, the team had barely acknowledged Laurel's death. They had all given Sara their condolences, but they hadn't really talked about the Black Canary at all.

"It's not… It's not… It's not Laurel." Sara sobbed; leaving Ray utterly perplexed for the next few minutes while she sobbed into his chest and tried to calm herself enough to speak.

"I miss… I… miss… Leonard…" She cried, just barely managing to get out the name of their former teammate before another fit of sobs came flooding out of her.

Ray had no idea what to do with that information, at all. Sure he knew that Sara and Snart were friends, especially after everything that happened with Mick. Without his partner, Sara had become the person on the Waverider whom Snart was seen with the most. They had their card games, their tendency to start bar fights in any era they visited for longer than five minutes, and they had their… their flirty banter.

Ray's eyes widened in realization when he thought about that; when he began to rethink everything about the relationship between the crook and the assassin. Had there been more to it than he realized? He, nor any of the others, really knew what exactly kept drawing the two unlikely members of the team back to each other. He had never given much thought to it, but now that Sara was suddenly reduced to a sobbing mess in his arms as though she were a child, he began to wonder. What went on between the two of them when no one but Gideon was watching?

Now that he thought about it, he HAD noticed that they became very proficient in communicating without words at some point. Should he have looked deeper into the meanings behind those looks?

 _"Probably not,"_ he thought to himself, figuring that Snart likely would've caught on and iced him.

Another sob from Sara pulled him from his thoughts. He looked down to see that she had now taken to scrubbing profusely at her eyes, trying to force away the tears.

"I'm sorry," she apologized but he only tightened his hold on her.

"Don't," he instructed, "Don't be sorry." He said and although she didn't stop trying to calm herself, she didn't apologize again.

For a long while they just sat there, Sara sniffling and rubbing at her eyes while Ray cradled her in his arms. Eventually she quieted, and the two of them remained in the comfortable silence of the dark room until Sara felt that it needed to be broken.

"I thought this was gone," she murmured, feeling Ray's eyes shift back to her rather than the empty wall they had both been staring at. "After I came back, I didn't feel much of anything." She began to explain; "The first thing I did after Constantine restored my soul… was go after Nyssa." She shuddered, fighting back another wave of tears that she wouldn't let spill, not yet. "Long story short she broke up with me, and told me to get on with my life." She shuddered again, harder this time, and took a breath to compose herself.

"Sara-" Ray began, trying to let her know that she didn't owe him any kind of explanation, but she cut him off.

"I was in love with her," she confessed, refusing to look up at him and meet his gaze. "But when she told me to go, I felt next to nothing." She confessed, inhaling a deep and unsteady breath. "I felt disappointed, which is not what you should feel when somebody you love basically tells you that they hope they never see you again." She stopped just long enough to wipe away a tear and draw another breath. "I went and had a few one night stands, but it was like I was just going through the motions. In fact that's how everything was until Rip recruited me." She admitted, Ray hanging on to every word that she said. "When we were in the 70's, and Leonard, Mick, and I started that bar fight, it was the first time I had felt like myself since coming back." She confessed; a small smile that Ray could just barely see from his angle making it's way onto her face.

"So… what did you think was gone?" He asked when he realized that she might have forgotten about her statement. "Now that Snart's gone, you don't feel like yourself anymore?"

"Not exactly," she answered, an uncomfortable hesitance lacing her voice. "The way I feel right now, I haven't felt in a long time. I thought it was beaten out of me during my first time in the league, or on Lian Yu, or maybe even Ivo's ship." She began to explain, albeit not very well considering Ray isn't always great at reading between the lines. "This is something that I thought I lost long before I died."

"And it is?" Ray questioned, still not anymore clear on the statement than he had been a few seconds ago.

"I feel like half of my heart was ripped out of my chest." She confessed, still not meeting Ray's eyes but she must have been able to sense his shock. "Yeah, threw me for a loop too." She admitted, reaching up and wiping more tears from her eyes as she sniffled and her body finally began to stop trembling.

"Sara…" Ray trailed off with his words, because what could he say? Now that he was beginning to see what Snart had really meant to Sara he was able to recognize the kind of pain she was feeling, something he had felt when he lost Anna, and because he knew the pain he knew that there was nothing he could say or do to take it away.

"It's funny," she remarked, not seeming to notice her friend's hesitance. "A part of me is glad to know that I still can feel this way, and another part just wants it to stop."

Ray sighed at her words; it was rare that he felt he could truly understand anything about Sara and the inner workings of her mind. But this, sadly, was an exception.

"I know that it hurts," he finally said, "I know it feels like the worst possible thing that could've ever happened to you has, and considering you found out about Laurel just hours after we lost Snart I can't even imagine what it must feel like for you. But you still have a home, you still have us, and I know that Snart wouldn't want you to close yourself off to that." He told her and she hummed in agreement to the statement, which honestly was more than Ray was thinking he would get from her.

"I won't," she promised, finally looking up and meeting his gaze as though she felt she needed to show him the seriousness in her eyes.

Ray nodded, and it was then that Sara finally maneuvered herself out of his grasp, though she still remained seated next to him.

"Thank you," she said, once again staring vacantly ahead of her and refusing to meet his eyes.

"Anytime," He assured her with a caring smile as he stood from the bed, ruffling her hair as he left, which earned a small smile from her.

Once Ray was gone and her door shut behind him, Sara got up and began rummaging the floor for her long discarded pants. As she had calmed down and the temperature of her body fell, she began to notice the chill in the room once again. She smirked to herself as she slipped them on, wondering what Leonard would've thought of seeing her in them. They were her favorite pajama pants, old and left over from before the gambit. She loved them because of how warm and comfy they are, so as long they fit her she would wear them on cold nights. But she could only imagine the crook's face, trying to hold back a comment at the electric green coloring with neon pink hearts decorating the fluffy, albeit matted after all these years, fabric. She crawled back into bed as she wiped away another tear and inhaled yet another shaky breath, determined not to break down all over again.

She tried to distract herself by untangling her mess of sheets and other blankets, but it hardly did any good. Finally, when her blankets were still twisted together in odd ways but she determined enough had been straightened out to cover her, she settled onto her back and pulled the blankets up to her chest.

"I miss you Leonard," she said to the ceiling above her, almost certain that the spirit of the man to whom she was speaking could not hear her. But she spoke anyway, and wiped another tear from her eye. "But, since you decided that you had to go and die, could you do me a favor? Keep an eye on Laurel for me." She requested and with that and a few more light tears, sleep finally washed over her.


	21. Sick Little Archer

**So this was a sequel to Chapter 18 requested by AvengingLegendHobo, sorry it took so long. Also i have decided that we're going to sort of see other one-shots in this storyline continue throughout these, so i'll leave a note just like this when it becomes relevant!**

* * *

Leonard Snart had always believed life only had one thing in store for him, stealing. However after being recruited for a mission to stop a murderous warlord traveling through time and nearly dying in the process himself, he had come to accept that life was working out a lot differently than how he originally thought it would. Sara was a big part of that; before the mission he never could've believed that a day would come where he had a borderline happy life, although normal was still far from being part of the equation. Ever since Mick picked him up from the temporal zone he had been living with Sara in Star City, where she had returned in order to help Oliver with his new team.

Every member of this new team had been afraid of both him and Sara at first, and they tried to keep it that way for as long as possible, but nothing lasts forever. Curtis and Rory were still mostly living in fear, though Curtis had lately begun to grow more comfortable around Sara. Rene never had it in him to be truly afraid until Sara got annoyed to the point of bringing out her knives, and that hasn't changed.

Then there's Evelyn.

By the time Leonard showed up the teenage girl was more or less comfortable around Sara, and over time that came to extend to him. But she appeared to see the two of them strictly as teachers, until the night of the storm.

After the deaths of her parents Evelyn was placed into the foster system, but she didn't even last one night in a home before she ran away. Since joining the team she had been living with Oliver but he had a bad habit of forgetting to get her a house key. There was one night where he had to leave town on mayoral business and once again forgot to give his teenage guest a key to get into the apartment. To make matters worse the weather had been in a torrential downpour that night and so, along with Rene, Evelyn had shown up at Sara and Leonard's apartment asking to stay the night. Ever since then her presence in the Snart/Lance apartment had become regular.

It started slowly, Oliver finally gave her a key to his place as soon as he got back from his business trip so it's no like being locked out was going to be an issue anymore. But they don't live too far from Oliver and so some nights when he was working late as mayor and left no food in the apartment she would show up for dinner, neither Len nor Sara ever cared. Speaking of Sara, upon returning to Star City she had tried joining Thea in working Oliver's campaign but it soon became obvious that she was not the sort of person meant for an office job. Eventually she wandered her way into the city's rec center and wound up with a job teaching basic self-defense and survival to little kids. Since Evelyn doesn't go to school she started tagging along with Sara some days, and then most, and now she had basically become the blonde's unofficial teaching assistant. So yeah, Len and Sara were both pretty used to the teenager's constant presence in their lives. But Leonard still didn't expect it when he came home from his own job one afternoon and found her collapsed on the couch during the hours she and Sara were normally teaching.

"No class?" He questioned, toeing off his boots by the door and sparing her a glance. She shook her head weakly and as he drew closer Len noticed that she looked miserable and her cheeks were flushed with fever.

"Sara wouldn't let me go," she mumbled before she suddenly erupted into a fit of coughs. Len winced in sympathy for her as she rose to a sitting position and then flopped back onto the cushions with a groan of misery as her coughing settled.

"Oliver know your sick?" Leonard found himself asking while he went to the kitchen and began opening and closing the cabinets in search of a can of soup.

"Yeah, he said I'm skipping patrol tonight." She informed and Len nodded in approval, though he had been hoping she'd tell him why she was enduring her suffering on his couch as opposed to Oliver's, or more specifically why she had dragged herself all the way over here if she feels so awful.

But he wasn't going to prompt her for an answer; instead he simply fished his phone from his pocket and set about calling his girlfriend in order to ask her to bring home some soup for their guest. However he hadn't even dialed the number yet when the apartment door opened and Sara walked in, two grocery bags in one hand and her key in the other.

"Hey," She greeted Len as she kicked off her shoes before making her way into the kitchen and setting her bags on the counter, giving him a quick kiss as she walked past him.

"Hey," he replied, knowing that he didn't need to tell her about the sick teenager on their couch, as she was already retrieving a package of cough drops from one bag and tossing it into the next room.

"Thank you," Evelyn croaked as Sara began pulling a few cans of soup, a box of tissues, and just a few other groceries she and Leonard had been meaning to get for almost a week now, on the counter before tossing the plastic bags under the sink in case they might be needed later.

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling appreciatively when she saw Leonard fumbling around for a pot and grabbing a soup can, as well as putting the other groceries away.

This left her free to grab the thermometer from where she had left it this morning and go into the next room. First she placed her hand on Evelyn's head, the younger girl making and annoyed whining sound when she did, and frowned.

"You still feel warm," she declared and Evelyn only rolled her eyes, like she couldn't have told Sara that. "Come on, sit up." The blonde instructed, completely ignoring Evelyn's annoyance and only grabbed her arm and pulled her up when she refused to comply. She then popped the thermometer into the teenager's mouth and waited for the beep, while Leonard came into the room and took a seat in the recliner.

"So where'd you pick up the cold?" He asked just as the thermometer beeped and Sara confiscated it, frowning again when she saw the number.

"Don't know," Evelyn replied in a noticeably horse voice, "But I would guess it was probably somewhere between the stakeout behind the dumpster and the fight that ended in me being pushed off the docks."

"Well you have a fever of 101," Sara informed, Evelyn simply groaned as she returned to lying on her back.

"I don't like being sick," she moaned, prompting both Len and Sara to snort with laughter.

"Nobody really LIKES being sick." Len said and his girlfriend nodded in agreement before turning her attention to their ill guest.

"Are you gonna be ok alone if we both go on patrol tonight?" She asked and Evelyn nodded.

"Yeah, I can go back to Oliver's if you want." She offered but Sara shook her head in refusal, which was backed up by Leonard.

"Nice try kid, but you're not going anywhere with a 101 degree fever." He told her, getting up from his seat and going to check on the soup.

"I'll text Ollie and have him bring your pajama's and toothbrush to the bunker tonight, anything else you need from his place?" Sara asked but Evelyn only scoffed.

"No, I'll be lucky if he can even find my pajama's." She muttered, it's not that her pajamas would be difficult for Oliver to find; they're located in the top drawer of the dresser of his guest room. The problem is that while she does stay with Oliver, the two of them are very distant roommates.

When she wakes up in the morning, he's either gone or on his way out. She makes herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, watches TV, gets dressed, and heads over to meet Sara for teaching at the rec center. After that she goes to the bunker, and once the other's get there training begins. After that it's dinner, then more training with Oliver, and then maybe patrol. At night she usually goes straight to bed, as does Oliver, and thus the cycle repeats itself in the morning. So it's not that she suspected finding her pajama's would be a challenge for Oliver, she just hoped he wouldn't grab a pair of leggings and a good shirt by mistake.

Sara just smirked at the comment and reached down to ruffle her hair.

"If he brings the wrong things, I'll go and get the right ones myself." She promised and Evelyn smiled.

"Thank you," she murmured gratefully before once again breaking into a fit of coughs.

* * *

As promised, Sara texted Oliver about Evelyn's overnight supplies, and as expected he hadn't exactly shown up with what Sara had in mind. He brought a backpack down to the bunker when he showed up for patrol, though he could've very easily fit what he brought into a plastic bag. There was a toothbrush, a fitted t-shirt that looked to be a size or two small for Evelyn, and a matted pair of discount store pajama pants.

"Do these fit her?" She asked and, somehow unsurprisingly, Oliver shrugged in response.

"I just grabbed what was on her floor," he replied, Sara continuing to rifle through the bag.

"You didn't pack any underwear," she continued, at that Oliver just let out an uncomfortable sigh.

"Can we get back to the mission please?" He more or less demanded, Sara rolling her eyes in response as she discarded the bag. Leonard was chuckling quietly to himself behind her, as he knew that he and his girlfriend would definitely be making a pit stop at Queen's later on tonight.

* * *

After a long patrol that ended with little more than a minor drug bust and another dead end on Prometheus, the team returned to the bunker and upon realizing there was nothing left they could do for the night they called it quits. It was at this point that Sara and Leonard went to Oliver's place where Sara packed what she deemed as a more acceptable bag for Evelyn, including clothes for the morning. She made a note to take the younger girl shopping at some point, as her dresser was mostly bare and what she did have looked old and worn.

When they got home it was nearly midnight and they were half expecting to find Evelyn already asleep, but she wasn't. Instead she was slouched on the couch just as they left her, some old cartoon playing on the TV via Netflix, and a plastic bag of tissues hanging halfway off the coffee table.

"Feeling better?" Len asked, Evelyn gave a sniffle and wiped at her eyes before answering.

"No," she replied, hoping he had written her actions off as results of her cold but upon seeing the quizzical look on Sara's face she knew she wasn't so lucky.

Len noticed it to, and one exchange of glances with Sara not only confirmed his thoughts but also had him nodding and heading to the bedroom, leaving the two girls alone.

Once Leonard was gone Sara made her way for the couch, dumping the backpack of Evelyn's things on the floor as the teenager sat up to make room for her. She took the offered seat and noticed how Evelyn was avoiding her gaze by staring down at her lap, but chose not to comment on it just yet.

"Everything ok?" She asked, Evelyn nodded but the sniffle she gave betrayed her, as it had barely anything to do with her stuffy nose.

"Yeah," she insisted, "I mean I feel like crap but it'll pass in a day or two." She continued with a forced laugh, one that Sara did not return.

"Evelyn," she said sternly, prompting the younger girl to look her in the eye.

Evelyn didn't want to look at Sara, because she knew that once she did she would lose it, and she was right. She was already exhausted, her skin felt hot and sweaty despite the constant feeling that the air around her was too cold, and her throat burned from crying for who knows how long before Sara and Leonard came home. She was too drained right now to keep her composure, and so the second she locked eyes with Sara she just broke. Tears began streaming down her face for the umpteenth time tonight and she did her best to scrub them away but it just wasn't happening.

"I haven't been, been sick since…" she trailed off, erupting into a full on fit of sobs as she buried her face in her hands. "I just want my mommy!" She sobbed.

Sara felt her heart break upon hearing that, how could it not? There wasn't anything she could do about it; hell she couldn't even begin to understand it. Sure there had been a few times in the league when she had contracted some virus or infection and wanted nothing but her parents, but at least she had known that they were alive. Although she'd doubted she would ever see them again, she had known she potentially could. But Evelyn, poor Evelyn is lying here miserable and with the knowledge that her mother will never again be here to make sure she's ok. Sara hates feeling helpless, but she does all she can do by putting an arm around the teenager's shoulders and that's enough to prompt the younger girl to collapse into the blonde's embrace. She buries her face in the crook of Sara's neck, the older woman rubbing her hand along her arm in a comforting way that she hopes does not stop. At some point she calms down, Sara's head having come to lean against hers long ago but she only notices when she shifts to pull out of her arms.

They just sit there in silence now, because neither of them can possibly say anything to make this ok. But when after a long moment Sara reaches over and gently cups her cheek with one hand, using her thumb to tentatively wipe away the tears that are still present on her skin, she doesn't feel so alone.

"Come on, it's late. Get into your pajamas and get some sleep, you need it." She instructed in soft voice and so Evelyn nodded, and then got up headed for the bathroom with the previously discarded backpack.

Now alone on the couch, Sara let herself huff out a sigh as she looked around at the mess of blankets, pillows, and tissues. She knew all about what happened to Evelyn's parents, and she knew that the teenager must still be hurting; but she didn't normally say anything. A part of Sara knew that it was the fever that had brought it on; that the first time being miserably sick without your parents around is always hard, especially if you're still young like Evelyn. But a part of her knew that this feeling isn't limited to today for Evelyn; that after her parents died she was all alone on the streets of Star City and now she has Oliver of all people looking out for her. It's not that Ollie can't protect her, the opposite actually, it's that he see's her as a student and someone he needs to teach. That mentality is fine for training, but he needs to learn how to turn it off at home.

Sara's thoughts were cut short when Evelyn emerged from the bathroom, signaling her to get up so that she could go to bed. With a smile the blonde vacated the couch, and walked over and ruffled Evelyn's hair affectionately.

"Goodnight," she said before heading into her and Leonard's bedroom.

Inside the room she found her boyfriend already in bed but not asleep, instead sitting up and flipping mindlessly through the channels of their little TV. He, of course, did turn the device off when he saw Sara getting ready for bed and watched her with quiet interest as she changed into her pajamas before finally crawling into bed beside him.

"Evelyn ok?" He asked, in response his girlfriend only groaned and buried her face between their two pillows. "Should I take that as a no?" He asked curiously, with a huff Sara brought herself to roll onto her back.

"She's fine, sort of. I need to talk to Ollie though." She murmured.

"Why?"

"Because, he's a lot of things but sensitive has never been one of them. She misses her parents and he's so distant that I think she still feels… alone." She explained and Leonard hummed in acknowledgement.

"And it's not like she can stay here," he mused, pulling Sara closer to him and feeling her nod against his chest.

"Unless she wants to sleep on the couch every night." She agreed, mentally cursing their one-bedroom apartment.

"Talk to Queen," Len finally encouraged, "But I have a feeling he's never going to be much of a softie no matter what you say, so in the meantime, I'll start looking around at other apartments." He promised, now that had Sara raising an eyebrow at him.

"You sure?" She asked, but could feel it when he shrugged as well as see the smirk on his face.

"If we find a place we'll talk to her about it, see what she thinks." He replied and so it was with a bright smile that Sara leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips.


	22. Ray's New Gun

Sara was starting to think that maybe there was a reason Rip had always been so uptight. She had been in the library for two straight hours making sure the timeline was in check and she still had a few more things to check over. Just then, as if sensing she was in need of a distraction, the door opened and Mick walked in carrying a plate.

"You missed dinner," he mused, setting the plate of microwaved chicken strips on the table in front of her.

"We've got a rogue time traveler on the loose," she reminded before glancing at the plate and giving it a slight look of disgust. "Besides, that bargain brand Stein bought tastes like cardboard."

Mick nodded in agreement but said nothing else for the moment, instead opting to shift his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other and pace a step or two. Sara noticed this of course, as it isn't normally like Mick to appear as having something on his mind. She chose not to comment on it though, opting instead to go about her work and leave him to decide whether or not he was going to share.

"I gave Haircut the gun,"

Well, that certainly wasn't what she had been expecting.

After he spoke, Mick watched Sara for a reaction… any reaction. He wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting, if he thought she would lash out or what, but he supposed he had expected more than what she did. Her shoulders tensed as soon as the words left his mouth, her eyes froze and stopped scanning the screen on the holo-table's surface.

"Ok," She finally said after what seemed like an eternal beat of silence, but it's not what Mick was expecting. Again, there wasn't anything in particular that he had been expecting, but the calm and collected "ok" before she returned to her work almost seemed like a cheat.

"That's it?" He asked but she only shrugged, though the arsonist did take note that Sara was yet to turn around and face him.

"What do you mean?" She asked in reply and now it was Mick's turn to shrug, not that she could see mind you.

"I just thought you would have more to say," he responded, and now it was with an exasperated huff that Sara abandoned her search for a lead on their rogue time-traveler and turned around. She let herself lean casually against the table, her arms folding over her chest as she finally met his eyes; she didn't look effected by this news in the least.

"You held onto the gun for a reason Mick," She reminded him, "Retiring it or not was up to you, and Ray does need a weapon. If you trust him with it then so will I."

With that said she turned back to her work, well aware of Mick eyeing her skeptically the entire time but debating whether or not to say anything more.

"Sara," well looks like he decided.

She looked over her shoulder at him, "Yes?" She inquired, not missing how he licked his lips before speaking.

"Nothing," he said, and with that he turned and left her to her work in the library.

* * *

Let the record show that Sara meant everything she said to Mick. What to do with the cold gun is his decision, and with the A.T.O.M. suit destroyed Ray does need a new weapon for out in the field. So if he feels that Ray is suited to wield the cold gun, who is she to argue? Leonard was his partner, so the decision for the gun to be passed on is his to make. Sara had known this ever since the Oculus, therefor she had accepted it long ago and made her peace with the idea of someone else using the gun long before the notion ever came about. It was surprisingly easy to do, if only because she knew how deep Mick's respect for his former partner ran and thus he would not take the idea of passing along the gun lightly. Now, after many months of healing and forming new bonds, he had chosen Ray and Sara was just fine with that.

But that doesn't mean actually seeing it was easy.

She knew that Mick would need to teach Ray how to use the gun and so when she caught them heading into the gym first thing the next morning, well she just couldn't help herself. She changed her course from the kitchen over to the gym, every intention set on making some sort of snarky remark. But anything that she could've said died on her lips the instant she reached the doorway and peered inside the room.

Ray was standing there, fiddling with the holster that secured the gun to his leg while Mick knelt beside him and repeatedly shoved his hands away, trying to adjust the strap for his new partner in fear that the other man might accidently set off the gun. He was already wearing the goggles, because he's Ray and he gets overly excited about these things and he must think the goggles make him look like such a badass; despite the fact that Mick has undoubtedly told him at least twice already that he looks like a dweeb. Somehow Sara didn't realize that with the gun Mick would also be giving Ray the goggles. She should've, as they are necessary in using the gun unless the user has a desire to go temporarily blind in the middle of a battle. He's not wearing the parka, but she knew he wouldn't be, as she has it. Mick gave it to her after the Oculus, that and the ring. She had tried to give them both back, claiming that Leonard was his partner, but he refused. He reasoned that his fingers were too big for the ring, and it would most likely get lost in his room. As for the parka, all he was going to do was stare at it and that didn't feel right. He told her to wear when it gets cold on the ship at night, and secretly she had.

But still, seeing Ray with both the goggles and the gun makes Sara's chest ache in a way she wasn't expecting. She had hoped seeing Ray inheriting Leonard's legacy would make her feel better about his death, excite her even. She had hoped seeing Ray take up the mantle of the gun would make her feel as though a piece of Leonard was living on. But yet, somehow, it was quickly having the opposite effect. It felt almost stupid to Sara, as she knows perfectly well that Leonard died six months ago. It could be because she had come back from death, possibly, but regardless of the reason the fact still remained that seeing Ray gearing up in what once belonged to Leonard didn't give her hope. Instead it felt like a powerful punch to the gut, cementing the fact that Leonard is really never coming back.

"Sara!" Ray's cheery voice cut through her thoughts when he finally noticed her; his hands no longer crowding Mick's and instead waving at her, accompanied by that goofy smile of his.

Mick looked over his shoulder upon hearing his friend's exclamation; the cautious expression on his face was enough to convey to Sara that, despite their conversation the night before, he still wasn't too sure she would be able to handle seeing this. Honestly, Sara wasn't entirely sure he was wrong. But she would never let him know that. So she plastered a big fake smile onto her face and walked a few steps into the room, eyeing Ray up and down with an approving smirk.

"Look at you," she appraised with convincing enough approval. "Looks like you won't be staying behind on the ship anymore."

Ray grinned at her, obviously pleased to hear that she approved of this and would not be benching him on future missions. Mick on the other hand, he still looked skeptical or at the very least confused by how well the new captain was taking this.

"Don't speak too soon," the arsonist warned her in a gruff voice, for now continuing on as if he hadn't expected this whole thing to rock her world. "He still doesn't know what he's doing."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Ray's elation had suddenly deflated, even with the fact that Mick was finally done fiddling with the gun's holster and getting to his feet.

"I'm encouraging you to stay alive," he defended.

"Mick's right," Sara agreed, "Without practice that gun can be very dangerous, make sure you get a handle on it before our next mission."

Ray's grin returned upon hearing that, as if he had really thought Mick was asking Sara to bench him a minute ago.

"Don't worry, I'll be ready." He assured her and she smiled before turning on her heel and leaving, unable to bear the sight of someone else practicing with that gun right now.

* * *

Mick told the others about Ray's new weapon, not wanting the stream of icy blue in battle to come as a surprise to anyone. He didn't, however, inform Nate and Amaya about the gun's former owner. They never knew Snart so he didn't feel the need to let them know. Besides, he figured word would probably get around to them eventually. He taught Ray to use it well enough, the geek's big brain made him a fast learner and within a week's time he had disassembled and reassembled the gun so many times that he could've done it in his sleep. Mick also took notice that Sara always found an excuse to make herself scarce when they were working, but he didn't say anything, not yet. She would talk, either to him or someone else, when she was good and ready. But still, he was keeping his eye one her. He felt that it was the least he could do, keep an eye on Sara, with Snart not here. She would probably kill him if she knew, but he couldn't help it. He knew what the blonde assassin meant to his former partner, hell he probably knew before Snart did, and there was no way in hell he wasn't going to watch out for her.

So with that thought in mind he took the rare consideration, well rare for him, to be tactful upon telling Sara that he was confident Ray was ready to use the gun in battle. He waited outside her door; they were all gearing up for what was promising to be one hell of a fight in the 80's. When her door opened and she came marching out she almost stumbled right into him, not having expected him to be standing right there. But she was quick to recover as always and headed down the corridor with him right on her heels.

"What is it Mick?" She demanded; they don't exactly have time for this discussion, whatever it was about.

"Haircut's ready," the burly man behind her replied, "He's coming, and he's bringing the gun."

"Good," Sara replied without hesitation, "We need all the help we can get."

* * *

She was right, they did need all the help that they could get. Mick was right too; Ray was more than ready to handle himself in the fight. But that doesn't mean Sara was. She knew it was Ray, not Leonard, that Leonard is gone and not coming back. But every time she saw that streak of blue, every time she felt that icy chill come just a little too close to her bare shoulders, she was looking over and hoping that she would be wrong. Her heart desperately wanted to believe that Ray was still in possession of his suit, that no one other than Leonard could be firing that damn weapon of ice. But every time she turned around it wasn't him, it was Ray; and the enemy got in more than a few shots because of it.

It was after the mission that Sara sat on her bed, not exactly feeling like being on the bridge with the team and basking in their barely achieved victory. She sat crisscross with a laundry basket in front of her and a few unsteady piles at her sides, also an ice pack balancing on her knee.

"Come in," she called when she heard a knock at her door, and admittedly she was a little surprised when Nate came in. At first he looked a little surprised, which she was perfectly ok with. "What? You never see an assassin fold her laundry?" She joked and as expected he chuckled with no answer at first.

"No, actually." He finally replied, "I just thought I'd come and check up on you."

"I've had worse than a few bruises before, did Mick send you?" She asked and again Nate did just as she expected he would, though this time his shoulders deflated.

"He said you won't talk to him," he explained.

"And he thinks I'll talk to you?" She asked, placing the shirt she had been folding into a pile and not yet reaching for another garment.

"Not sure," Nate admitted with a shrug, "But he told me to tell you that if you don't talk to me he'll come in here himself."

Sara smirked as she returned to her laundry, knowing that Mick was probably serious and she probably should talk to Nate before Mick comes in here and drags her down to the gym for a spar in an attempt to beat her feelings out of her.

"He wants to know why you were off during the fight today… and frankly, I do too." Nate continued and Sara nodded in acknowledgment, then put down the pair of pants she had before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and looking at Nate, her ice pack falling to the floor.

"Do you remember when I told you that on this mission even the strongest and the bravest of us die?" She asked and he nodded, finally closing her door, surprised that he was actually getting something out of her.

"Of course, but I don't see what Captain Hunter-"

"I wasn't talking about Rip," She interrupted, enjoying it just a little bit when Nate was momentarily rendered unable to speak.

"Oh," he finally stuttered, "Then who?"

"Leonard Snart," she replied and he nodded.

"Mick's old partner," he started and she nodded in confirmation.

"You know he was a Legend coming into this?" She asked but Nate shook his head.  
"No," he admitted. "When Oliver and I found you guys I didn't know who Mick was. I knew about everyone else, but not Mick. I never even thought that two criminals had been recruited by Rip Hunter, and I am ashamed to admit that after discovering Mick the thought that Leonard Snart had ever been here really didn't cross my mind." He all but cringed; he still couldn't believe that he hadn't put that together.

"Well he was," Sara began, "He was here, and he died saving us all."

"Sounds like his reputation in 2016 didn't do him justice," Nate said and Sara nodded.

"It didn't," She agreed, "Leonard Snart was a brave man, but why Mick thinks I have such a problem with Ray inheriting his gun is lost on me. So you can go back to the party and tell him I'm fine." She continued and it really shouldn't have surprised her when Nate shook his head with that look on his face that he gets when the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle start to come together in his head.

"I don't think so," he decided, "I get it now; why you didn't want me to join the team, and why you're always so afraid of losing someone on a tough call. Even though you know that we're all willing to make that sacrifice. It all makes sense."

"Oh yeah?" Sara challenged, "Then tell me, is it because I'm responsible for what happens to you all? Or just because I'm human and don't want you all to die?" She asked and Nate snickered.

"Neither," he replied, "I did my research on you before I joined this team-"

"I'm aware," Sara reminded.

"Right," Nate agreed. "And I'm aware that you disappeared in the North China sea in 2007, in 2013 you returned to your home in Star City but took your time with telling your family that you were alive. You then left to return to the league in 2014 but stopped back in Star City to hunt Malcolm Merlyn and visit your family, the former of which got you killed. You were then resurrected a year later and decided it might be best if you took some time to travel and find yourself, now here you are."

"What's your point Nate?" Sara demanded with a dangerous and deadly gleam to her eye.

"A lot of people have lost you Sara," he deadpanned, "But you, you haven't lost a lot of people. Losing Snart, it was the first time that someone other than you took that fall, and I'm guessing that isn't something you want to get used to." He said and Sara nodded.  
"You're right," she agreed, "Thank you for that painful trip down memory lane." She said and Nate gave a nervous smirk.

"There's something else isn't there? Something I'm missing." He said, "What exactly was Snart to you?"

Sara shrugged at the question, "I don't know, we didn't have enough time to find out." She said before pushing herself off her bed and crossing over to Nate. "Now let's get back to the party, so I can tell Mick that he better keep his nose in his own business." She threatened and Nate nodded, he knew that Sara had already shared more than she wanted to for one day.

"Sure, and look I know I didn't know Snart but if you ever need to talk-"

"Thank you Nate," she cut off, "I'll keep that in mind."

Nate smiled at her and so with that all set the two of them left and went off to join the others, Sara silently hoping Ray had put away the gun by now.


	23. Road Trip

**Ok so this is the sequel to Sick Little Archer**

* * *

"Are you sure the two of you can handle this?" Oliver questioned Sara early one morning while she and Leonard were loading up Dig's van, which since he's a fugitive and Lyla prefers her car, had at some point become a resource for the rest of Team Arrow.

"Isn't five in the morning just a little too early for you to be worrying about something going horribly wrong?" She mocked and couldn't suppress the chuckle at the face Oliver made when his motives had been spoken aloud. "Well you don't have to worry, Leonard and I can totally handle a little… family road trip." She assured him but her choice of words only seemed to worry Oliver even more. "Although if you're so worried about a problem on our end, you can always take Rene off our hands." She suggested in a voice that was uncharacteristically sweet, and Oliver laughed right at it.

"No, you drew the short straw on that," he reminded, Rene would really be pissed if he ever found out that the two of them had actually determined his place on this mission through the use of a playground game.

"Relax, we'll be fine." Sara assured her friend before looking past him, the sight of both Evelyn and Rory entering the garage with backpacks slung over their shoulders catching her eye. "Where's Rene?" She called, Oliver turned around when she did and also saw the two coming.

"On his way, overslept." Rory excused just as Leonard came over to the group, rolling his eyes upon hearing Rene's whereabouts.

"If he's not here on time we're leaving without him." The former crook deadpanned.

"You are not leaving without Rene," Oliver was quick to say.

"And where are we leaving for, exactly?" Evelyn asked, stopping an argument before it could start.

"Seriously, you called us last night and told us to pack enough clothes for a few days and show up here at five in the morning. What's going on?" Rory questioned.

"Central City," Sara replied, earning surprised faces from both the recruits. "We have some friends out there who need help and so the five of us are going up there to see what we can do."

"Any reason we're leaving Curtis behind?" Evelyn asked,

"Partly because we don't need six people, partly because his husband is starting to get suspicious of him disappearing all the time and so leaving the city for a couple days on short notice is definitely not going to help." Sara explained and that was when Rene showed up.

"So what's going on?" He demanded,

"Be here on time and you would know," Leonard smirked before turning his attention to all three recruits. "Get in the van, we've got a long drive." He instructed, Sara and himself turned and did just that with the three recruits following apprehensively behind them.

"I ain't going anywhere unless I know where," Rene protested,

"Then feel free to stay behind," Sara called over her shoulder.

* * *

"So really, nobody's gonna tell me where it is we're going?" Rene asked for the umpteenth time, and they had only been driving for twenty minutes.

"That's what you get for being late," Sara replied from the passenger seat.

Rene had every intention of responding, but the van hit a pothole at that exact moment and so trying to keep his balance distracted him. Just to be clear, Dig's van was built for work, not family trips. It has no actual backseat so the recruits are all crammed onto the bench John put in the back.

"We couldn't take your car for this?" Rory complained,

"Do you know how old my car is?" Sara replied, "It would never make a long trip like this."

"I feel like we're about to cross the border," Evelyn muttered,

"Please, as if I'm stupid enough to try crossing the border in a cable van." Len mocked from his position at the wheel.

"So I should probably cross Mexico off my list of places we might be going?" Rene sarcastically questioned and in response Sara looked over her shoulder at him with an amused smirk.

"I can confirm that we are not leaving the country," she told him before turning back around.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Rory asked after two hours of driving.

"Not even close," Snart replied.

"Does this trip involve a bathroom stop?" Rene asked; he had given up on trying to get the actual destination out of anybody for now.

"Why didn't you go before we left?" Sara groaned,

"Well excuse me, I didn't know this was gonna be a two hour drive." Rene argued,

"Seven hours, actually." Leonard corrected, at that Rory and Evelyn both burst out into laughter upon seeing the shock on Rene's face. Sara also twisted in her seat to look in the back and chuckled at Rene's wide eyes.

Fifteen minutes later and Leonard parked the van at a rest stop.

"Alright, if you have to go to the bathroom, get out. If not then get out anyway and stretch your legs." He ordered and of course the first sound that greeted his ears upon exiting the van was Rene, who started shouting practically the instant his feet hit the pavement.  
"Seven hours?" He demanded, "Where the hell are we going?" He continued, getting in Sara's face, not that she was even the least bit intimidated by him.

"Calm down Rene, we're going to Central City." Evelyn finally revealed; prompting her teammate to back off the only mentor they have who is actually scarier than Oliver.

"Well now that 'watch Rene lose it' is over, who's got a new road game?" Sara asked as they crossed the parking lot and Rene huffed in annoyance.

Once inside the rest stop they all headed for the bathrooms before reassembling for about two seconds before Rene and Sara headed off to get food.

"You have got to be kidding me," Leonard drawled as he watched Evelyn and Rory make their way over to a claw machine up against the wall. "Aren't you two a little old for that?"

"Dude, you're never too old for the claw machine." Rory argued and Len only rolled his eyes before heading off to find Sara, leaving the apparent children to their own devices.

He found her over by the Big Belly Burger, holding a bag along with two drinks and waiting for Rene to finish ordering his food.

"Here," She said as he approached, handing him one of the drinks which turned out o be a coffee.

"Thanks," he said before nodding his head towards her bag. "We brought sandwiches in the van you know,"

"I know, doesn't mean I can't want French fries." She replied, opening the bag and eating one of her fries as if to prove a point.

Len rolled his eyes before reaching into the bag himself and stealing a fry, much to Sara's annoyance.

It was only a few minutes later that Rene returned with his own bag of food and Evelyn and Rory showed up empty handed, and a total two dollars poorer between the two of them.

"Everyone all set to go?" Len asked,

"You get us anything?" Evelyn asked Rene, completely ignoring Len.

"There's a bag of sandwiches in the car if you want something," Rene shot back while shoving nearly half of his burger into his mouth.

"So… that's a no?" The teenager asked and before Rene could've answered Sara rolled her eyes.

"Yup we're ready, everyone back in the van."

* * *

Everyone back in the van turned out to maybe not have been the greatest idea. It was probably Sara and Leonard's fault, at least in part. They hadn't told the recruits exactly where it was that they were going or how long the car ride would be, so it wasn't really anyone's fault but there's that nobody had thought to bring headphones as a means of entertainment. This, of course, resulted in a rather loud argument over the radio station until Sara finally grew fed up and turned the radio off all together.

Of course that only ended in Rene blasting music from his phone.

"Would you please turn that off?" Evelyn asked in an icy voice.

"It's my phone." The hothead defended in a mocking voice.

"Congrats, but we're all in this car and we don't all want to listen to your crappy taste in music. So either get some headphones, or shut it off." Evelyn all but snapped, but of course Rene is probably the last person one should ever snap at.

"Or what?" He challenged,

"Hey, no fighting back there." Sara instructed from the passenger seat.

"Tell him to turn off his music, or at least play something better!" Evelyn all but shouted,

"Well I would, if I didn't have to keep everything PG-13 around you." Rene fired back, earning a glare from Evelyn that was nothing short of murderous.

"Both of you shut up!" Rory shouted when Evelyn attempted to reach over him and strangle Rene.

"Alright, everybody quite!" Leonard shouted over the now three arguing recruits. "Rene turn that off, we'll put the radio on but Sara's picking and nobody's complaining, capiche?"

Rene grumbled in compliance but did in fact turn off his music, and while Sara considered looking for a classical station simply to torture the three in the back for fighting she eventually decided against it and settled on the first station she found not playing static or commercials.

* * *

When they finally, FINALLY, after what ended up being eight long hours of driving arrived at the farmhouse Ollie had found them to rent on the outskirts of Central City it was afternoon and everyone was far past restless from the long trip.

"Ok here's the deal," Sara began as they pulled up. "The place has three bedrooms, so unless anybody has other ideas we figured the best arrangement would be Leonard and I in one room, Rene and Rory in another, and Evelyn in the third. Sound fair?" Sara asked and she received three murmured acceptances in response, at least they could all agree on that.

Or… they could all agree on that until they made it inside the house. They all headed straight for the upstairs, if only to put their bags there before getting back into the van and heading over to Star Labs. Sara and Len hadn't been in their room for more than two minutes before Rene came marching in, Rory on his heels and seemingly attempting to stop him from whatever he was doing.

"Three bedrooms, y'all didn't mention there was only one bed in each." He informed Sara who sighed and rolled her eyes in response to him.

"I've never been here before," She defended, "Look, this is a nice place that Oliver was able to rent from his step-dad, we're only here for a few days and you two are both adults. So either suck it up, or figure something out. But we're here for a reason and it's not for the two of you to act like babies."

"Why are we here exactly?" Rory questioned, suddenly realizing that when they set out on this trip they had been so focused on keeping Rene in the dark that none of them had even asked WHY they were all the way out in Central City.

"I'm not sure," Sara admitted, "According to Oliver, Barry isn't the easiest person to understand over the phone when he's panicking."  
"Whose Barry?" Rene questioned, Sara and Len just looked at each other in disbelief.

"Should we even be surprised that Queen didn't tell them?" Leonard asked.

"Probably not," Sara answered with a roll of her eyes, this was going to be fun.

* * *

An hour later found the group pulling into S.T.A.R. Labs and with the recruits still unaware of Barry's identity, Sara and Leonard having chosen to leave that Barry's decision to tell, things were quickly becoming frustrating.

"So you don't know why we're here, all you're telling us is that your friend's name is Barry, and you guys aren't the least bit worried that this might be more than we can handle?" Rory questioned as the five of them entered the building and followed Leonard down the hall to the elevator, him being the only member of their current team who had even been to S.T.A.R. Labs before.

"The only thing I'm worried about is bringing the three of you into science lab, where they keep chemicals and other dangerous things you could fry your brains with." The former crook said as they filed into the elevator and began the decent to the bottom floor.

"But Central City is like Meta-Human capital, I mean we've got Rag Boy-"

"It's Rag Man," Rory interrupted Evelyn.

"But the rest of us aren't exactly equipped to fight super freaks." The teenager finished as though she hadn't been interrupted at all.

Sara looked up at Len with a smirk, finding he had a similar knowing expression gracing his features.

"Don't worry," he assured Evelyn, "Everything is going to be completely under control."


	24. Frozen Friends

**This is the continuation of "Road Trip"**

* * *

"This is your definition of completely under control?" Rene questioned as the group walked into the main room, or at least mainly used room, of S.T.A.R. Labs and found man with long hair wrestling an older man, who was laughing and barely fighting back, for what looked to be a TV remote.

"For this place," Len huffed, both men appeared to notice him then but it was only the younger of the two who actually seemed to care. "Cisco," he drawled while the long haired and now embarrassed scientist released his laughing adversary and looked over at the group.

"Uh, hi." Cisco said, embarrassed that the help they had called had walked in during the middle of one of his and H.R.'s disagreements.

"Please tell me we didn't come all the way out from Star City because you two have been fighting over a TV remote?" Sara mockingly questioned and while her comment only appeared to embarrass Cisco all the more, the other man only smiled at her.

"It's funny, It's funny that you, that you say that." He stuttered excitedly, "You see, I first thought that this device was for controlling what you people call the television as well. But in actuality it uh, it uh well you see it-"

"It's a PCT; portable cryogenics tracker." Cisco explained, although he seemed to regret it when the glare Leonard fixed him with sent a chill down his spine.

"So you brought us all the way out here, just so you could re-chip my gun?" He drawled and before Cisco could answer H.R. started laughing hysterically.

"No, no that's not why, why we brought you out here." He said, "We, you see we um, well there's been this problem-"

"The remote isn't to track you Snart," Cisco interrupted his ever-stuttering headache. "It's to track Caitlin," he confessed, Sara's eyes grew wide.

"Caitlin?" She asked, "I thought you guys had her powers under control?"

Cisco opened his mouth to answer that question, which Sara could tell it wasn't going to be a positive answer, but Evelyn cut him off.

"Before we get too far into this, anyone want to explain to us what's going on?" She asked, she and the boys clearly growing irritated by the fact that they had no idea who these people were and yet Sara and Leonard were going about this conversation like business as usual.

"Right, sorry." Sara apologized. "Kids this is Cisco and H.R., if you don't understand anything H.R. says that's because he is from another dimension. Guys this is Evelyn Sharp, Rene Ramirez, and Rory Regan." She quickly introduced, gesturing to each person as she named them and just as she finished a brown haired woman came traipsing into the room, sporting a rather impressive black eye.

"Oh, don't tell me I missed the meet and greet." She mocked, earning an eye roll from Leonard.

"And this would be my sister, Lisa." He added onto Sara's introduction. "What happened to your eye?"

"I think Cisco already told you that Caitlin's gone nuts," Len frowned at her answer, mostly because he knew that if Caitlin Snow did that to his sister then she wasn't in her right mind; meaning that payback in the form of punching is definitely off the table.

"I was trying to," Cisco exclaimed in annoyance.

"So get to it," Sara half instructed, half teased, because annoying Cisco is just too much fun half the time.

With one last glance around the room as if to make sure that he would not be interrupted again, and only once he had determined that he would not did he begin again with his story of why Team Flash is in need of help.

"So, for those of you who don't know," he eyed the recruits, "Caitlin is a friend of ours with ice powers, think Snart's gun only without the gun part."

"That's a scary thought," Rory murmured, Len glared at him but opted not to say anything.

"Anyway," Cisco continued, "When she first got her powers they had a tendency of taking control of her, and turn her violent."

"Which from my understanding she's had under control for at least a year, so what set her off?" Snart questioned and at that both Cisco and Lisa looked uncomfortably to H.R.

"This should be good," Sara mocked, and at that H.R. suddenly noticed both of his present coworkers glaring at him.

"What did I do?" He laughed, "This, this is, this is not my fault." He tried to excuse but it was being made so very clear that yes, this is his fault.

"H.R. here decided to try his hand at some actual science, long story short he jump started the killer part of Frost and now she has Barry and Wally frozen in a warehouse halfway across town." Lisa explained.

"And Wally and Barry are?" Rene questioned,

"You didn't tell them?" Cisco asked, eyeing Sara and Leonard.

"Not our secret to tell," Len defended.

"Well if we're sending them out there, they should know." Lisa argued, although Len could tell she respected that he and Sara had opted not to reveal Barry and Wally's alter egos to Oliver's recruits.

"We are going out to rescue The Flash and Kid Flash."

That was a bomb to the recruits.

The surprise wasn't that Oliver apparently knows Central City's own group of masked heroes, no that was actually expected. But what was surprising was that he didn't come when the problem is clearly so dire.

"But, Barry's the one who called Ollie?" Sara more asked then stated it.

"Well they weren't totally frozen at first," Lisa told her.

"How do you know all this?" Leonard skeptically asked his sister who responded by pointing to her bruised eye.

"Where do you think I've been for the past twenty-four hours?" She asked and while he did clench his fist that was all he did, as he still knew that Caitlin is not currently in her right mind and their friend, and therefor still off the table for payback.

"Am I the only one who sees a problem with sending three rookies against someone whose name actually has the word "killer" in it?" Rory asked but in response Sara rolled her eyes at him.

"Are you forgetting that my job description used to be nothing but that same word?" She teased and Rory had to concede to that point.

"Besides, we're thinking the cold gun might be the only thing that can give Cait a run for her money long enough for the five of you to free Barry and Wally, after that Barry just has to run her back here." Cisco explained, although he seemed rather nervous about the plan.

"I think you miscounted Ramon," Leonard drawled, "If I'm keeping Snow busy then there's only four of them.  
"Yeah, because a black eye is going to keep me from going back." Lisa remarked and while her brother did look as though he wanted to argue he kept his mouth shut, knowing that it would be a losing battle.

"You're with me," he deadpanned and she nodded, that was an acceptable compromise.

"So how exactly are we supposed to break two speedsters out of a layer of ice?" Sara asked and that question had Cisco reaching onto the desk behind him and grabbing two small orbs from it's surface.

"Throw these at the ice, they'll heat up and melt it in less than a minute." He explained, handing the orbs to Sara.

"Ok, let's get going." She declared, leaving little room for argument or further explanation.

* * *

After suiting up they took the S.T.A.R. Labs van and parked about a block away from the warehouse Caitlin was using as her base and took a series of back alley's to reach their destination undetected. Even if they didn't have Lisa with them as a guide finding the place would've gone easy enough with just the tracker, and the fact that the outside walls did have ice creeping all up and down the sides was sort of a giveaway.

"Frost won't be expecting you guys, but once she see's Lenny it won't take her long to realize that Sara's here." The younger of the Snart siblings began explaining as the group made their approach. This had Sara turning to the recruits and removing the two heat orbs from her jacket pocket and handing them over to Evelyn and Rene.

"Meaning that if we want to keep her from suspecting you three it'll be best that I go in with Len. That'll put her on the hunt for Lisa, make sure you three stay hidden." She eyed Rene in particular when she gave that instruction, knowing his tendencies to charge headfirst into battle.

"What happens if she freezes you?" He asked, in defiance of orders as usual.

"She won't," Leonard sneered as though the question were a personal offence to him.

Sara nodded in agreement, fully confident that she would be able to walk out of this unharmed, or at least with little more than a mild freezer burn.

"Give us five minutes, then make your way in from the vent on the roof." She instructed and so with that the three more experienced heroes headed off to the front of the building, leaving the recruits to make their way up the fire escape.

* * *

"This is the last time we're all cramming into an air vent," Rene declared as the three of them made their way through the ventilation system of the freezing warehouse, it only growing colder the further they went.

"It's not running and yet it feels like it's at least two below in here." Rory muttered.

"We're breaking into the lair of a woman whose actual name in Snow, you didn't expect it to be warm did you?" Evelyn all but snapped before Rene, who was in front of her, stopped without warning. "Hey!" She whined.

"Don't blame me," Her hockey masked partner snapped, "Rags here is the one who stopped."

"Yeah, because there's a drop." Rory defended, peering down the long tunnel and trying to judge how much weight the grated bottom would be able to withstand.

"Good that's our ticket in," Rene exclaimed impatiently, which had Rory rolling his eyes beneath his mask of rags and attempting to turn around and explain to Rene that they need to be careful. But he lost his balance on the ledge in the process and instead went plummeting down the drop.

In an act of self-preservation Rory shot a rag vine back up the shoot in hopes of stopping his fall, but with nothing but slick metal for the vine to grab onto it was useless and the force of his body was more than enough to knock the grate out of place. Once he crashed through it he was able to cushion his fall, if only by using his rags to grab various objects such as pipes and support beams only to slide off thanks to the coating of ice over everything. What's worse is that, despite being currently in a battle against those who were meant to distract her, Caitlin took notice of the commotion. She whirled her head around and fired on the man who had just barely clamored to his feet and sent an icy blast his way. Evelyn and Rene were dropping down behind him, thanks to one of Evelyn's grappling arrows, but they were to late and the next thing he knew he was frozen solid. Well actually his armor, so to say, was frozen solid. He was perfectly fine on the inside, maybe extremely cold and very stiff, but alive. Still, this left him virtually useless in aiding Wally and Barry. But it hardly matter, as Frost couldn't handle all of them by herself and the instant Barry was free he sped off in the blink of an eye, taking Caitlin with him.

"Now what?" Rene questioned when it was just the rescue squad and Wally remaining in the warehouse.

"Barry's gonna put her in the cortex, Cisco will pump some gas in to knock her out, she should be fine when she wakes up." The yellow clad speedster explained.

"Are you telling me your plan is for her to sleep off this bad mood?" Snart demanded with a sneer as he holstered his gun.

"H.R. basically electrocuted her, once she calms down the killer will be under control, think of it like Mick and his fire." Lisa explained which had both Leonard and Sara in much clearer understanding of the situation, although still worried.

"Great, but what are we supposed to do about icicle here?" Evelyn asked; jerking a thumb over at her incapacitated teammate.

Sara made her way, cautiously, closer to the frozen recruit. Honestly, she hadn't really noticed his predicament until just now.

"Rory? You alive in there?" She questioned,

"I'm good," he replied, "Pretty cold but, otherwise I can't complain." He replied and even though Rene was currently out of his line of sight, and he could not pivot his head in order to change that, he still heard the annoyed sigh from the other man.

But the sigh had Sara laughing, because yes the problem is very obvious but that only made it all the more amusing.

"Come on, there's got to be a dolly or something around here somewhere." She said, going off into the depths of the warehouse in search of some way to transport their frozen friend to the van.

* * *

"You have to what?" Oliver questioned as Sara gave him a mission report over the phone, letting him know that while the combat aspect of the mission is over they were still going to be in Central for another day or so.

"You heard me, we have to wait for Rory to thaw." She repeated, "Cisco's little heat orbs are only good for one use, a bug he still needs to fix. He's working on another now but it's going to take at least another hour or so."

"So what are you doing in the meantime? Having Rory sit under a heat lamp?" Sara could hear the disbelief in her friend's voice, and looking over her shoulder she decided it might not be best to tell him he had hit the nail on the head.

"Actually he's lying down," She answered, which was true.

"Sara!" Oliver exclaimed,

"Gotta go," She said quickly before disconnecting the call and turning to go and check on the group in the medical area of the Lab.

Inside she found Rory, his frozen form on the hospital cot and underneath a rather ineffective heat lamp while Evelyn sat in a chair next to him reading a book.

"How you holding up buddy?" The blonde asked with a smirk, not that her friend could see her face.

"Is Cisco ever going to finish that orb?" He replied in clear annoyance, to which Sara chuckled.

"I'll go check," she said and with that she made to head down to Cisco's workshop, but was halted by Evelyn speeding from the medical area and coming to a stop in front of her.

"Wait," the young girl called as she hurried, "Wally's going to a party with some friends tonight, he invited me to go with them."

"Cool, have fun." Sara replied, she then continued on her way and was halfway to Cisco's lab when she realized that Evelyn hadn't been telling her she was going to the party, but asking permission.

And frankly, she wasn't all that sure she liked the idea.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I just have one thing to say after the reveal with Evelyn this past week; NOPE! No, i refuse to believe that she is evil! I am literally at the point where I have considered Laurel to be Prometheus as a way of protecting Ollie. (I know it it makes no sense, I'm in denial. But to be fair, Prometheus wears so much padding it actually could be a woman under that mask.)**


	25. Family Reunion

"Jefferson you didn't," Stein pleaded, after the entire mess of an alien invasion had been stopped the team was taking a day or two in 2016 for some shore leave. So while Jefferson had, supposedly, gone to visit his mother, Martin had opted to remain on the ship. Ever since he'd started seeing visions of that mysterious woman he had accepted that he could not have any idea as to what was waiting in 2016 for him.

He didn't know who she was, but yet he felt this immeasurable feeling of love for her, and he was terrified she would be the one whom he had to face in the present. But she is still a stranger to him, nothing but a giggling face he's seen in visions and dreams. No words, no name, no explanation.

So of course Jefferson had gone to his home and found her there, and of course he'd brought her back to the ship.

Stein wasn't entirely sure what his partner had told her exactly, but according to the younger man she was already well aware of both the Waverider and the team. If she had revealed to Jefferson who she is then he wasn't saying, and that was probably annoying Stein the most.

"Grey I had to!" Jax defended, "You said it yourself that you remember loving her, don't you want to know who she is?"

"Of course I do!" Stein all but snapped, "But I was perfectly content with allowing my memory to slowly rewrite itself, rather than bring this strange woman on board! How do you even know that she can be trusted?" He demanded and although Jax looked away it was with that look that he gets when he thinks his partner is being ridiculous. "Oh my god," Stein gasped, "She told you who she is, didn't she?" He asked and when the reply he got was in the form of a sigh he knew that he was right. "Jefferson-"

"Yeah, alright yes." Jax confessed, "When I went to your house she answered the door and she knew who I was. I had to explain that we've actually never met and tell her that when we went to the past and talked to younger you, it somehow changed the timeline so that she became a part of your life."

"Well then who is she?" The older man demanded before nervously adding "And what happened to Clarissa?"

"Relax, Clarissa's fine." Jax assured him before gesturing to the door behind them, the one that leads to the cargo bay, the one that leads to _her_. "Her name's Emily," He continued, "But as for who she is… I think that's for her to tell you." With that said he pressed his hand to the scanner on the side of the wall and opened up the door behind him, prompting a rather apprehensive Martin to turn around and find himself face to face from the woman of his visions.

She looked very much like she did in his clouded dreams, roughly the same age as Sara with light brown hair cut around her shoulders and a light blue dress stained here and there with small splotches of paint. She appeared as nervous as himself, her head snapping in attention to the door and offering an awkward smile as the older man before her felt himself all but shoved into the room before the door closed behind him, courtesy of Jefferson of course.

"Hello," He greeted awkwardly as she rose from the crate she'd been sitting on. He held out his hand and she accepted, although the gesture did make her look rather uncomfortable.

"Jax told me what happened," she cut right to the chase, and secretly Stein was rather grateful for it.

"I do apologize," he said sincerely, "My memory has begun adjusting to the changed timeline but so far I've only been able to recall the vaguest images of your face, though Jefferson was kind enough to give me your name before sending me in here, Emily." He explained whilst she reclaimed her seat on the crate, with a surprisingly understanding smile on her face.

"It's ok," she assured him, "He told me you went back to a conference at the White House in 1987, and whatever you said to your younger self is what put me in your life. It wasn't that hard to figure out what you changed."

It was now that Stein opted to join her on the crate, the fact that she had somehow been able to deduce how that trip put her into his life was astonishing in his opinion. As time is so unpredictable and surely there could be an infinite number of different choices that would've led her to him, but yet she seemed so sure.

"Then enlighten me, please." He requested in an almost begging tone, which she appeared very amused by.

"What exactly did you say to your younger self?" She asked.

Stein licked his dry lips before answering, considering he was still unaware as to this woman's place in his life he had no idea how she would react to hearing the answer. But she appeared understanding enough, and surely she knew he had at least been married to Clarissa at the time.

"I told him to cherish Clarissa," he answered her honestly, "I told him that no matter how many scientific breakthroughs he achieved, she would always be the most important thing in his life, and that nothing could ever compare to her."

Much to his surprise, Emily beamed at his words. Her smile was bright and genuine, not unlike Clarissa's own, and he almost thought he saw a bit of his wife in this strange woman.

"He took your advice," she confirmed, despite her positive reaction those had not been the words Martin was expecting to hear. "He went back to her that night and apologized for leaving her alone on her birthday, he promised he was going to make it up to her. They went to the beach the next weekend, and while I don't know exactly when your little change in the timeline took place I did do the math when Jax told me what happened, and considering your past self had apparently just been given a reality check I'm fairly certain it was that week." She explained cryptically and later on Martin would choose to blame denial for not realizing sooner what it was she was saying and instead asking her to spell it out for him.

"Well what was it?" He asked and he really should've gotten from the deadpan look that she gave him, but he didn't.

"What happens when a man and a woman love each other very much?" She asked and Martin's eyes grew wide as he finally, finally began putting the pieces together.

"Oh, oh…" He trailed off in obvious shock, the awkwardness of the room suddenly multiplying by at least ten fold.

"Yeah so um, how have you been dad?"

There was a long pause of silence, a very long pause. To tell the truth Stein really should've guessed her identity from her age alone, as she is clearly half his age and Jefferson did pick her up here in the present. Not to mention that although her hair is dark the way his was in youth, she does look so much like Clarissa. But still, the sheer impossibility of it had blinded him. He and Clarissa had talked about children, once upon a time, but the time had never seemed right for them. However if what Emily had to say was true then it was probably safe to assume that she hadn't exactly been a planned child.

"I've uh… I've been good, I've been good." He finally managed to stutter out, much to the amusement of his apparent daughter.

"Right," she said disbelievingly, knowing that after having a bomb like this dropped on him her father was clearly not good. So she rose to her feet, because frankly she couldn't stand looking into the eyes of her father when they held no recognition of her, when all they saw was a stranger. "Well I should go," she said, making her way towards the door of the cargo bay and of course Stein sprung up behind her.

"No wait!" He nearly begged, "Please don't-" He cut himself off, or rather the sudden blinding pain in his head did. He bent over clutching his temple, and obviously Emily took notice of his abrupt pause and turned around to the sight.

"Dad!" She exclaimed, bending down to his level and trying to get a look at his face, which was contorted in pain. She placed a hand on his shoulder as though to let him know that she was there, but aside from that she watched helplessly until his eyes blinked open again.

When the pain overtook him Stein at first saw nothing, but then the memory flashed through his mind. In it he saw a child, an elementary aged Emily, sitting in front of a door and wearing a party dress, her face appearing as a mix of boredom and disappointment. But alas, as quickly as it came, the memory was gone. He now found himself still in the cargo bay of the Waverider and staring into the adult Emily's eyes; worry and dare he say the tinniest bit of hope reflected in them.

"Da-" She stopped herself, clearly unsure about if he would want her calling him her father when he does not remember her as his child, and he found that it broke his heart. "Are you ok?" She asked him, he nodded.

"It, it was a memory." He confessed as the two of them rose to stand straight, he saw the hope in his daughter's eyes amplify but still he saw doubt, and fear that he might reject her.

"A memory of what?" She asked.

"Of you," he said hurriedly, much to his surprise she began shaking her head in denial.

"You don't have to pretend to remember me," she said, Stein could only bring himself to look at her in shock. "Jax told me what happened, you don't have to pretend that you suddenly know who I am." She continued, trying her best to keep her face an emotionless mask but that had never really been her strong suit.

"No, I swear. Believe me Emily, the only reason I actually know who you are is what you've just told me. But what I just saw, it was you." He promised her, "You were a child, sitting in front of a door and wearing a party dress. Actually you looked rather upset." He confessed, finding himself even more anxious when she appeared to consider his words.

"You were working late that night," she finally said, she knew exactly what he was talking about and maybe it was the optimist in her but she believed that he really was remembering things, and she hoped that he was truly as willing to accept what is apparently a new reality as he appears to be. "You came to every one of my dance recitals," She began to explain, "You made every school play, every piano concert, every art show, and all but one or two t-ball games. But that night at work was a huge deal for you, and you told me that morning you were sorry but you just weren't going to make the father-daughter dance." When the words left her mouth Stein suddenly felt himself filled with guilt, however judging by her face Emily felt the same. "Me being the little brat that I was I wanted to make you feel sorry, I didn't understand that you already were. So I put on my dress and sat outside my bedroom door long past my bedtime and waited for you to come home. When you finally did you came upstairs, took one look at me, and walked into your room." Her guilt began to turn to embarrassment. "At first I thought I was getting what I deserved for trying to make you feel guilty. But then you came back out, dressed in a suit and tie, and you brought me down into the living room and put on my favorite CD, and you danced with me to every song."

Stein couldn't help the warm feeling that her words filled him with, nor could he help the small smile that was spreading onto his face.

"I hope you aren't lying in order to make me feel better about not knowing you," he said and she actually laughed at that.

"You're gonna remember eventually, so I'm not going to bother lying." She assured him, "No, you've always been there for mom and me. And speaking of mom I really need to be getting back your place, I'm supposed to be helping her plan out some event at the University and she is probably wondering where I am."

"Of course," Stein agreed, "Please give her my regards, I'd go with you to say hello but we're going to be taking off soon and-"

"I got it," Emily cut him off, "Should I tell her about the whole corrupted timeline thing or…?"

"Oh… um, if you feel that you need to then by all means. But considering I don't know when I will next be home and my memory may have rewritten itself by that time I don't think it's exactly necessary that she find out." He stuttered, he was never one to keep secrets from Clarissa but then again he also didn't like worrying her, and he was sure that if she were to know then she might worry about other things he might have forgotten.

"Don't tell mom, got it." Emily agreed, "I guess I'll see you next time you're in town."

"Yes, and I look forward to hopefully remembering more about you by then." Stein said, this time when he held out his hand to her she took it much more willingly.

"Hopefully not everything," she cringed, "There are some things I'd rather you not remember."

Stein chuckled at that, and he was very sure that there are probably some memories that will be written into his mind that he'd rather not see. But still, Emily seemed to be a well-raised young woman, and he could only hope that he had played as much of a part in that as she claimed he had.


	26. The Trouble With Boys

**This is the continuation of Frozen Friends**

* * *

"So tell her she can't go," Leonard encouraged Sara in a hushed tone. After checking in with Cisco Sara had found her way over to her boyfriend, who was quickly growing impatient with sitting around, and ended up telling him about her earlier conversation with Evelyn.

"I can't, I already gave her permission." She argued, frustration coating her voice because she knew that no matter how many times the two of them hash out this matter she will still be stubborn on not go to Evelyn with a judgment change about letting her go to the college party with Wally tonight.

"So tell her you changed your mind." Leonard said it like it would be the easiest thing in the world. Sara scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"I can't," she argued,

"Why not?" He demanded. Sara huffed and chewed her lip for a moment, gathering her thoughts and debating whether or not to voice them at all. "Afraid she won't listen?" Len added and when Sara finally met his eyes at the question it confirmed his statement; that is exactly what she is afraid of. "We're in charge of her on this trip-"

"No Leonard we're not." Sara interrupted, "We're in charge of what happens during the mission, so Rory getting frozen is on us. But we aren't in charge of what Evelyn, or any of the recruits, do in their spare time." She seemed so serious with her words, which is why Leonard found himself smirking at her knowingly.

"So why are we even having this conversation?" He asked; Sara huffed in obvious annoyance with him, or more specifically his apparent desire to get her to admit that she knows what she needs to do.

But she would never admit that. So long as she couldn't be sure that Evelyn wouldn't explode in reaction she wouldn't take the chance. So she walked away from Snart, much to his amusement no doubt, and made her way back to the medical room.

"Sorry Rory," She heard Caitlin apologize as she entered. After being thawed by Cisco's little heat orb Rory was sitting in a chair with three blankets wrapped around his shoulders and still shuddering from the cold left in his body.

"No, no worries." He promised the clearly guilt ridden woman between shivers.

But Sara's focus wasn't on him; instead it was on the two other recruits who had been in the room to keep him company.

"Rene," she called, the Hispanic man's head snapping to attention as she motioned for him to follow her out into the main room.

Rene looked around the medical room for a moment, but based on the confused looks of his friends none of them had any idea what Sara wanted with him. So, feeling very much like a kid just called to the principal's office, Rene went out into the main room where he found Sara leaning against a nearby wall.

"Yeah?" He questioned when he walked over to her, surprised to see that out of all possible emotions that could be flashing across her face she seemed to be nervous.

"Evelyn is going to a party with Wally tonight," She revealed, "Now I trust Evelyn and I trust Wally, who I don't trust is drunk college boys."

"Yeah I don't blame you," Rene laughed, not yet understanding what this would have to do with him.

"Good, then you understand why I'm sending you with her." The second the words were out of her mouth was the second in which Rene's face fell.

Babysitting duty? Oh hell no. He loves a good party as much as the next guy, and college kids definitely know how to throw some of the best, but those days are past him.

"You're what?" He demanded but didn't give her a chance to answer. "No way. I'm a grown man, I am not going to embarrass myself by trying to get into a college party."

"And I'm not asking you to," Sara was quick to insist.

"Good,"

"I'm asking you to _sneak_ into a college party." She corrected and at that Rene became even more horrified.

"No, no forget it!" He argued but he knew it was a losing battle, and that this was not going to end in his favor.

* * *

"You packed that?" Leonard asked skeptically when Evelyn walked into the living room of the rental house wearing skin-tight jeans, a black crop top that clung just as tightly to her body and had a neckline that cut down a little too low for any parent's liking, and five-inch strappy heels.

"I didn't know where we were going," she defended with a shrug, "Thought I might end up as live bait again."

"Never again," Sara promised from where she sat on the couch, waiting for Leonard to return from the kitchen with the popcorn for their movie.

Before Evelyn could respond her phone buzzed and on it she found a message from Wally, letting her know that he and his friends were outside.

"Bye," she called as she hurried out the door.

"Be careful," Sara called back just as the door closed, although she did hear Evelyn throw an "I will" over her shoulder as she raced down the sidewalk to the car.

"Well," Len began as he came and joined his girlfriend on the couch, "The good news is there weren't many places for her to hide alcohol in that outfit."

Sara raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him as though he were insane before she looked over her shoulder as if somehow she would find Evelyn still standing behind them.

"That outfit?" She asked, turning back to Leonard. "There were about a million places."

* * *

After watching about ¾'s of _American Gangster_ Sara and Len went up to bed, after making sure Rory was in fact only asleep and hadn't died from his earlier hypothermia of course. Anyway, they had no idea how long they had been asleep for when they were both suddenly awoken by pounding on their door accompanied by a shouting voice.

"Get up!" The voice ordered, and it was a very angry voice belonging to woman, so it only could've been one person.

Opting to forego the knife underneath her pillow Sara slipped on her discarded pants, not that she needed to when Leonard's t-shirt was big enough to cover her, and opened the door. She wasn't entirely sure what exactly she had been expecting to find out in the hall, but she nearly face palmed at the sight that greeted her.

Standing there and looking far beyond pissed was Evelyn, every bit as put together as she had been when she left, and holding Rene up with an exceptionally firm grip on his arm. Rene, on the other hand, was obviously completely wasted. He was to the point where his eyes appeared to be one drop of alcohol away from glassing over and his mouth hung open ever so slightly to give his face a look of awe.

"Would either of you care to explain to me why I am standing here with him?" Evelyn demanded and Sara opened her mouth but she was cut off, as it was that very moment in which Rene realized where he was. Well sort of.

"Hey," He laughed, his face turning into a dopey grin. "I know you guys," He slurred, "You guys are awesome."

Sara rolled her eyes at the compliment, and could tell Leonard was doing the very same behind her. Neither of them, however, could ever look as unamused as Evelyn. The hard and icy glare which currently occupied her face was one that could've given Caitlin Snow a run for her money just a few hours prior; and that is a scary thought.

"Come on Ramirez," Len finally said, pushing his way past Sara and taking the arm of the drunken man from Evelyn. "I'm sure Rory will be thrilled to try sharing a room with you in this state." He drawled as he led the younger man away, leaving the two girls alone to deal with the actual problem.

Once the boys were gone Evelyn kept her glare trained on Sara, who decided that the best course of action for the current situation might be to remain quiet and allow Evelyn the first word.

"You sent him to spy on me." The teenager finally deadpanned.

"No, I sent him to watch out for you." Sara clarified, "Which clearly wasn't a good idea."

"Oh, ya think?" Evelyn demanded before marching into the bedroom and so, seeing no reason not to, Sara shut the door behind her. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be seventeen and dragging a wasted adult out of a college party because he snuck in and started drinking?" She demanded furiously, but the answer she received from Sara was not one of defense like she had expected, in fact it was hardly an answer.

"Party was a bust before Rene got hammered, wasn't it?" The blonde asked and so Evelyn lowered herself onto the bed with a sigh, her previously fiery gaze now soft and fixated on the straps of her shoes.

"I'm seventeen," she began, "None of the guys there would even look at me."

Sara frowned when she heard that, she doubted Evelyn had gone to that party looking for a hook up but still, that had to hurt.

"That sucks," She said, smirking just a little when Evelyn glanced up at her with a face that said she was stating the obvious. She went and joined the younger girl on the bed, prompting said girl to once again become very interested in her feet. "Wally still there?" She asked, Evelyn sighed.

"No, he drove us here and then went home, didn't exactly have the nerve to show his face back there." She mumbled, now it was Sara's turn to give a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said, obviously Evelyn hadn't expected to hear that and so she whirled her head up in shock. "I explained it to Rene earlier, I trust you and Wally. It was the other boys I didn't trust."

"Well you didn't have to worry about that," Evelyn scoffed, looking away once again.

"Hey," Sara said, "Don't worry about those guys, half of them won't even remember tonight anyway." She said and although Evelyn did look up and offer half a smirk, that was about all that Sara got.

"What about after tonight?" She asked and Sara quirked an eyebrow, silently asking her to explain further, so she did. "I mean I never really had time for dating when I was in high school, and after Darhk… well after Darhk I REALLY didn't have time."

Sara couldn't help but smile just a little bit at the confession, it was nothing that she couldn't have guessed but still, the fact that Evelyn was entrusting her with this did give her a warm feeling inside.

"You'll find time," she promised before reaching out and gently moving a lock of Evelyn's long dark hair to rest behind her ear. "If you can find time to party with a bunch of losers who won't give you the time of day, you'll find time to meet someone who thinks the world of you." She promised and Evelyn couldn't help but blush at her words. "And who knows," the blonde added, "Maybe you'll even find him on the job, like I did."

This time Evelyn laughed at her words, but to be honest, she wouldn't mind something like that.

"Sure would make things a lot easier," she admitted, marking it her turn to earn a chuckle from Sara.

"You have no idea," The older woman agreed. The two sat there in a comfortable but still heavy sort of silence for another minute or two before a soft knock sounded at the door and Sara called for whoever was there to come in.

"Everyone still alive?" Leonard asked as he opened the door, each of the girls gave a small laugh at his joke.

"Yeah Snart, I'm going to bed right now." Evelyn assured him, but she caught both the adults off guard when before standing up she leaned over and pulled Sara into a quick hug.

If she noticed either of their surprise she didn't say anything, instead she got to her feet and made her way out of the room, calling a "goodnight" over her shoulder as she left.

"Night," Both adults called back before Len shut the door behind the exiting teenager and turned to Sara.

"Wow, didn't think it'd go that well." He half mocked, making his way over to the bed.

"Neither did I," Sara admitted as her boyfriend came and lay down next to her, situating the covers over the both of them. "I'm going to talk to Ollie when we get back." She announced once Leonard finished with the blankets.

"Did you talk to her?" He asked and unsurprisingly Sara shook her head. "Ok, then how about you talk to Queen and I'll talk to the kid?" He offered, and he was pleased when his girlfriend nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good."


	27. The New Place

**This is a continuation of part 26**

* * *

Evelyn remained quiet as she walked down the busy streets of Star City, side by side with none other than Leonard Snart. They hadn't even been back in the city for two full days when Sara called and asked that she go over to the apartment. She wouldn't say why and so obviously Evelyn had been curious to know what was going on, and that curiosity only grew when she arrived at Sara and Leonard's home only to find Sara gone and Snart preparing to leave. All he had told her was to go with him, and that was hardly an explanation. She had decided that it might be best to not ask questions, as Leonard appeared to know exactly where they were going.

He led her, oddly enough, to Big Belly Burger. It wasn't particularly crowded and so the two of them selected a booth by the window and when Len began scanning over the menu, all of this still without an explanation, Evelyn decided she had remained quiet long enough.

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" She asked,

"We're eating lunch." Snart replied, his eyes never once leaving the menu in front of him.

"So Sara called me over to your place, so you could drag me out to lunch?" The teenager asked with a scoff, very skeptical over the purpose of this little trip.

"Well when you say I dragged you it sounds like you didn't want to come," Snart replied, finally glancing up at her over the top of his menu. She merely shrugged and then finally reached out and grabbed her own menu.

They remained in a comfortable sort of silence until the waitress came over and they placed their orders, and even after that it took a few minutes for the conversation to start again.

"So where's Sara?" Evelyn finally asked, deciding to maybe try a different tactic in getting an explanation.

"She had to talk to Queen about something," Leonard replied before his eyes flicked up to meet hers. "Something concerning you."

Evelyn hoped that he didn't catch the way she fidgeted under his gaze, that maybe he missed the physical reaction that came with her heart skipping a beat out of fear in her chest. She was sure he didn't, sure he noticed it all, but she found herself almost grateful when he took pity on her and explained himself.

"Relax, you're not in trouble." He assured her, "It's just that you're over our apartment all the time so while she's informing Queen I figured I might as well run it by you that she and I are moving."

Evelyn couldn't help it when her eyes widened at the news. A part of her realized that she should've see this coming, considering Leonard's sister does still live in Central City and that is also the place their friends on the Waverider tend to stay whenever they're in the present. Perhaps there had been more to that "family trip" than she and the other recruits thought, maybe their chaperones had been selected because they had been planning a trip anyway.

"Relax," Leonard's voice cut through her inner tornado of thoughts just as their food arrived, he waited until the waitress was gone before he continued. "We're not going far." He assured her, taking her by surprise.

"You're not?" She found herself asking, he shook his head as he picked up the saltshaker.

"Only about two blocks from where we are now, we found a place with a second bedroom." He explained, purposely placing the salt on its side before reaching for the ketchup bottle.

"You guys having a baby?" Evelyn snorted; however the unamused glare she found herself on the receiving end of had her quickly backpedaling. "Kidding," she assured, the look he gave her told her that no they were not, but apparently such a thing is not a joke at this point in their relationship.

"No," He confirmed, "But you've been sleeping on our couch often enough, so we decided it might best if we had an extra bed."

Evelyn froze at his words, and for a second he did too. He was watching her, waiting for a reaction.

"It's up to you, if you want it or not." He assured her when she still hadn't answered. "You can keep doing what you do now, just showing up for dinner and not leaving." There was something lacing his voice when he said that, something that Evelyn couldn't quite place. It wasn't anger or regret, but it wasn't very far off. "But I'm not going to ask you to have an answer for that right now, instead I'm going to ask you to help me with something."

"What is it?" She asked, glad he had offered her the distraction.

"I need your help picking out something for Sara," he answered, although the response was not very descriptive.

"Like a present?" She asked, suddenly beginning to wonder if maybe Sara's birthday was coming up.

"Something like that," Leonard replied.

"What does that mean?" Evelyn asked, quickly growing tired of Snart's cryptic responses.

"You'll see," he promised, and with that the conversation ended.

* * *

"You and Snart want to adopt Evelyn?" Oliver said as he and Sara finished their sparring session. Sara had informed him about her and Snart's decision to move into a new place and the reasons behind it.

"That's not what I said," she defended, however they both knew that to be a lie. Those may not have been her exact words, but they might as well have been. "Evelyn isn't like the rest of the recruits, Ollie." She said, deciding that if Oliver was going to make her be honest then she may as well go along with it. "You said it yourself when you recruited her, she's just a little girl."

"I did not mean that," Oliver was quick to defend, remembering to back when he had first brought in the recruits and proceeded to personally insult each and every one of them in an attempt to motivate them.

"It's still true," Sara insisted, "And no amount of battle training is going to change that. She's a kid Ollie, younger than we were when we got on the gambit and sailed right into hell."

"And what if she doesn't want to be adopted?" Oliver asked but Sara only shrugged.

"Then that's her choice." She replied, "Look, Leonard and I aren't looking to be her parents, we never could be. But she needs something more than a trainer, and no offence but trainer is about all you know how to do."

Oliver looked like he was trying not to take offence tot hat statement, mostly because he knew it was true. It had been with a lot of hesitation, to say the least, that he had agreed to train any of the four recruits. It wasn't lost on him that Evelyn was the youngest one, or that her current living arrangement failed to provide much human interaction when at home. Maybe it was his fault for not realizing how much she needs some sort of interaction at the apartment, considering he was often gone before she woke up in the morning and stayed out later. If they did return home at the same time then they were both bone dead tired and would trudge straight to their separate beds. He knew she was spending most of her days working with Sara at the rec center, and most of her free time at Sara and Leonard's apartment. He hadn't missed how both the former assassin and the former crook kept an eye out for the youngest recruit, both in the field and outside of it.

But he hadn't really been aware that they were aware of it.

"So when are you talking to her about it?" He asked, "Or did you already do that?"

"Leonard's taking care of that right now," she replied.

* * *

Little did Sara know that her boyfriend had already finished discussing the new place with Evelyn and the two of them were now in the middle of a whole other mission. They had already tried one jewelry store but it turned out to be a bust, so now they were checking out a second one.

"What about that one?" Evelyn suggested, pointing to one of the many rings beneath the glass case.

Leonard considered the one she was suggesting, it had a silver band with a square diamond setting and it was beautiful, but it just didn't seem right for Sara.

"Maybe," he said in a voice that, judging by Evelyn's annoyed sigh, made it very clear that he was just trying not to blatantly shoot down another one of her suggestions.

"I don't understand why you're even getting a ring, she already wears the one from your first job as a thief on her ring finger and we both know she's never taking it off." Evelyn muttered, but when she did Leonard's eyes flicked up from the case as he realized that she was right, and just like that an idea began formulating in his head.

"Come on," he said and without another word he turned on his heel and walked out of the jewelry shop, leaving Evelyn to hurry after him and not catch up until out on the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?" She asked once she finally caught up.

"To figure out how to rob a former assassin without dying in the process."


	28. Our Little Family

**This is a continuation of** **part 27 as well as the conclusion to that storyline**

* * *

Stealing a ring off the hand of a twice-trained assassin, without dying in the process, turned out to be just about as difficult as it sounded. Len tried pulling it off her while she slept, but Sara is a very light sleeper and such an attempt only ended in waking her. He also thought about stealing it while she was in the shower, as that's the only time she ever takes it off, but he quickly abandoned that plan upon realizing that no matter how quiet he tried to be she would inevitably hear him entering the bathroom and therefor know it was him who took the ring once she noticed it missing.

So a week came and went and still there was no luck with getting the ring from Sara, that is, not until one morning when Evelyn reported to the apartment for teaching duty at the rec center.

When she got there she found the usual sight of Sara sitting at the counter, already clad in workout clothes, and just finishing up the last of her breakfast. Over the course of the past week, ever since Len and Sara had officially signed for their new apartment, the living room had grown overrun with boxes and so it didn't really surprise Evelyn when she saw Leonard over in the living room and packing up another addition to the pile.

"You guys gonna be ready to move in a few days?" She mocked; taking in the somewhat organized mess that was slowly taking over the small apartment.

"Should be, are you?" Sara countered as she stood and went to rinse her bowl in the sink.

"I can be ready in two hours," the teen chuckled, she doesn't have nearly as much to pack as the two of them do, although she had already started.

"Good," The blonde approved as she began to head for the bathroom before abruptly stopping and turning back. "Oh by the way, the older kids had a tournament last weekend and some girl had her earrings ripped out, so this week we actually have to abide by the no jewelry rule."

Evelyn nodded and once the older woman was gone she caught Leonard's eye, knowing that he shared the same thoughts as her. This was their chance, and it was going to be up to her to take it.

* * *

Getting the kids, specifically two particularly bratty little girls with earrings, to remove their jewelry went about as well as Sara and Evelyn could've expected. That mixed with the fact that Sara had placed her rings, including the one from Snart, into her bag was making it incredibly difficult for Evelyn to accomplish her mission. But she finally got her chance halfway through the class when they stopped for a water and bathroom break. Since the bathroom is two hallways away, and that leaves so much in-between for a five-year-old to get distracted by, someone needed to accompany the kids opting to use the restroom and thankfully Sara didn't object when Evelyn declined to do it.

"Sensei Evelyn?" A little voice squeaked from behind the teenager as she began rummaging through Sara's bag. "Why are you stealing from Sensei Sara?"

Evelyn fought the urge to audibly groan, she just had to work with curious children.

"I'm not," she assured them, "Sensei Sara accidently put something of mine in her bag this morning, I'm just grabbing it back." She assured the little girl who appeared to be satisfied with the answer.

"Why did she, why did, why did she put your, your thing in, in her, in her, her bag?" A little boy, Kaden, questioned. Normally Evelyn was very patient with his stuttered words but right now it felt like they were going to be the death of her if listening to him meant splitting her attention as she felt around the inside of the bag and tried to determine where Snart's ring was.

"It was an accident," she assured Kaden, as well as the rest of the now interested children.

"But how did she grab your thing by accident?" A little girl named Libby questioned just as Evelyn felt the rough texture of the ring she was searching for.

"What is it anyway?" Now the ever-nosey Taylor was joining the conversation and Evelyn knew that if the kids saw her taking one of Sara's rings, she'd be busted. Fortunately five-year-olds aren't very observant and so when her hand emerged from the bag oddly cupped, almost like a claw, in order to hold the ring while she kept a hair tie between her fingers, all they focused on was the hair tie.

"Hair tie," she replied casually, and it was right at that moment that Sara reentered the room. With the kids suddenly focused on Sara and vice versa Evelyn took the opportunity to slip the ring into the waistband of her leggings.

* * *

"Well I nearly got busted by a bunch of rug-rats," Evelyn claimed later on after she and Sara arrived back at the apartment and the older woman had gone off to the bedroom to change, leaving her younger friend in the living room with a rather anxious looking Leonard. "But I got it." She declared, retrieving the ring from her waistband and tossing it over to him.

Len caught the ring easily; although a part of him really couldn't believe that after all these weeks he and Evelyn had finally gotten their hands on it.

"I owe you one kid," he said, pocketing the ring before Sara could come out of the room and see it.

"Just do whatever you're planning on fast, because she's going to think she lost it and is going to be tearing everything apart." Evelyn warned, she and Leonard both knew that getting the ring altered was going to take time, especially with the alterations being fairly drastic, and time was probably something that they didn't have.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sara was essentially losing her mind. Sitting on the bed she had already turned her gym bag inside out and was currently thinking of an excuse she could give for ransacking the car. She couldn't believe that she had lost Leonard's ring! She had guarded that thing with her life for two years now and suddenly it's just gone. Her best guess was that it had fallen out of her bag at some point, meaning it could be anywhere in the rec center and had probably been swept up by now. Deep down, of course, she knew that Leonard wouldn't blame her for losing it and honestly she doubted he would care all that much. He had said himself that the ring wasn't a keepsake of his first job but rather a reminder that even the best laid plans can go sideways. His thieving days are long behind him, even if he won't admit it, but that ring was still important. It was all that she'd had of him for a year and a half, and even with him back now that ring still felt like… it felt like a promise to her. Like if she were to lose him on the job again, and in their line of work that is extremely possible, she would at least still have that piece of him that had gotten her through that year and a half.

* * *

Sara went through the next month or so hoping Leonard hadn't noticed that she was no longer wearing his ring, and while she was sure he had he never said anything so she wasn't about to bring it up. But then came one night when they were out on patrol, jumping from rooftop to rooftop doing a final sweep of the city after a relatively uneventful night.

"So, any particular reason my ring has suddenly vanished from your hand?" Leonard asked, coming to a halt as they came towards the end of their assigned sector.

Sara shrugged in response, a part of her knew that playing dumb would be useless because Leonard had probably noticed weeks ago that she had stopped wearing it and assumed she'd lost it somewhere, but she still played dumb anyway.

"It started irritating my skin," she lied and while she did expect him to call her out on it, she didn't expect the wicked grin he gave her.

"Are you sure it isn't because your boyfriend happens to be one hell of a thief?" He asked, pulling a small jewelry box from his jeans pocket.

For a second Sara felt as though her brain had been turned off. He had stolen the ring? Just to annoy her? Upon making it to that conclusion Sara found herself moving closer to her boyfriend and giving him a not so light smack on the arm, to which he laughed.

"I've been driving myself nuts looking for that!" She scolded as she hit him, "I thought I lost it somewhere at the rec center! And you stole it just to mess with me?"

"No," Len said after she had delivered, hopefully, her final blow. "I stole it so I could have it altered." He explained, now Sara just looked plain confused.

"Why?" She asked and he sighed,

"Because," he drawled before he lowered himself down onto one knee, which only served to confuse Sara even more. "I wanted to ask you a question." He said, opening the box and showing Sara the transformed ring.

Sara couldn't help it when her jaw dropped open as she realized what was happening. Even at the sight of the ring, which had been altered so much that had Len not told her she wouldn't have realized it was his. The band of it was still pretty much the same, but towards the top the metal had been pinched and twisted by somebody who clearly knew what they were doing in order to set a diamond in it.

"Don't worry, they didn't touch the engraving." Len assured her, referring to how he had sloppily carved her name into the inside of the ring before the Oculus.

At his words Sara was snapped from her haze and she knelt down to look him in the eye.

"Are you seriously asking me to marry you?" She questioned, the deadpanned look was all the answer she needed before she slammed her lips against his.

Leonard kissed her back, eagerly, but the moment was soon interrupted by the sounds of clapping hands and even one wolf whistle. Pulling away and looking over her shoulder Sara couldn't help but smile at the sight of the rest of the team emerging from the shadows, most with bright smiles on their faces.

"It's about time!" Curtis exclaimed as the group approached the happy couple.

"You know she hasn't said yes yet," Leonard claimed as the two of them stood; now it was Sara's turn to give him a deadpan glare.

"Yes," she said before turning back to their friends.

"Wait? You all managed to keep this a secret?" She asked, she had heard all about Oliver's idea to propose to Felicity back when they were living in Ivy Town and how the team had nearly blown it time and time again upon their return.

"Just Evey," Rene explained, referring to Evelyn by the nickname he had given her at some point. "She told the rest of us about twenty minutes ago."

"Actually, she's the one who stole the ring off you." Leonard admitted and if Sara was in disbelief before she was really in disbelief now, that and very impressed.

"I'm assuming you taught her?" She asked Leonard, giving him a knowing look and he shrugged guiltily.

"I might have given her a few tips," he admitted and Sara only rolled her eyes just as Leonard took ahold of her hand. Caught up in all the excitement she hadn't even realized that he was still holding the ring. He slipped it onto her finger and before he knew it her lips were on his again.

"Ah, I don't need to see that!" Rene whined in the background as he directed his attention away from the couple, along with Oliver and Diggle.

Sara smirked against Leonard's lips at the sound of not only Rene but also the others laughing at his claim. Once the two of them broke apart the team headed back to the bunker, where Felicity proceeded to tackle Sara into such a forceful hug that she nearly knocked her down. After that it didn't take long for everyone to debrief from the mission and head for their homes.

* * *

"I can't believe you two let me lose my mind over that ring for a month," Sara said as she, Leonard, and Evelyn entered their apartment.

"I can't believe you didn't accuse me of it sooner," Leonard replied and Evelyn nodded in agreement, Sara just rolled her eyes.

"Well I'm heading to bed, congrats on the engagement guys." She said before making her way down the hall to her room.

"Goodnight," Sara called after the teen before looping her arms around her fiancé's neck.

She just looked up at him for a few seconds, content to just stand there staring up at him.

"What?" He eventually asked, although it was purely out of curiosity.

Sara shook her head with a smile, "Nothing," she assured him; "It's just that our life has gotten strangely domestic since you came back from the dead."

Leonard chuckled at that, but he couldn't deny her point. "Knowing our luck, that just means we're due for something out of a sci-fi movie to happen."

* * *

Well, they were both right.

For a while it seemed like, aside from their night jobs, their lives had somehow achieved a semblance of normal. They were able to plan and go through with their wedding with a record of only one call from the Waverider for a relatively minor mission that really just needed a few extra hands. It was about six months after their wedding that they told Evelyn she was going to be a big sister, and about three months after the arrival of their daughter Aurora that something out of a sci-fi movie finally happened.

It was Mick who called them, apparently those Thanigarians the Time Masters had once been so worried about decided to pay Earth a visit a few hundred years too early. They needed all hands on deck, but it was almost lucky that Evelyn had sprained her ankle badly a few weeks back and while she could walk Oliver didn't want her chasing down aliens who had intent to kill. So she stayed behind and looked after Aurora, a decision both Sara and Leonard had been a little apprehensive about but as they returned home with more than a few new bruises they knew that it had been necessary.

"I'm glad you talked me into letting you come," Len said as they approached the front door of their place. Sara had bounced back rather quickly after Aurora arrived but that being said he hadn't been too sure it was a good idea for her to run into such a high stakes mission, although she ended up saving his life.

"Anytime Crook," she mocked with a tired half smile as she opened the door. "It's quiet," she noted suspiciously, knowing that this was normally the time of night that Aurora was well into a meltdown.

"Maybe Evey brought her to your dad's." Leonard suggested, at some point Evelyn's nickname had extended to being used by people other than Rene.

Sara doubted the suggestion but at the same time couldn't think of a better argument, not until she stepped further into the apartment and heard the faint sound of a lullaby. With a raised eyebrow, as he too heard the voice, Leonard followed her lead down the hall until the two of them stood right outside the nursery door. When they peered in they saw Evelyn, clad in her pajamas and pacing around the room, with Aurora held closely to her chest as she made up a lullaby. Not wanting to risk waking their younger daughter, although technically they never formally adopted Evelyn, Sara and Leonard pulled their heads out of the room and crept quietly back down the hall.

"I guess everything went ok here," Len mused, the two of them had been a little worried about leaving Evelyn alone with such a young baby for the whole day.

"Looks like," Sara agreed, "But still, I kind of hope we don't get called for another big mission like that anytime soon, I kind of like the half crazy, half normal life we've got going here."

Len smirked at his wife before leaning down and giving her a kiss, "Me too."


End file.
